Tales Of a Resentful Hero
by AnotherHopelessWriter
Summary: When William Shawford is exiled from The Colony, he attempts to begin anew in the nearby land of Equestria and live a simple life, but gets more than he expected, not that he hasn't seen worse. HIE-fic, not self-insert, I suck at summaries but I do my best and I think it's a decent story. Constructive criticism is encouraged. Possible pairing and stuff later on. Love comments.
1. Chapter 1

AHW: Hello Everyone, I'm fairly new to writing, and as such any constructive criticism would and will be much appreciated… Well that's all I can think of for now. How about we get this show on the road.

**()** = Author Talking

"" = Characters Talking

'' = Characters using Quotes

* * *

A squad of heavily armed guards stood by outside a castle bedroom as their prisoner collected his belongings. Out of the door emerged a tall, well built human securing his bags and cloak.

"You ready to go?" Asked the guards.

"Yeah, let's get a move on it. Wouldn't want to keep them waiting right?" I chuckled.

One of the guards seemed fairly upset by that remark though, so I smiled as he rested a hand upon the guard's shoulder. "You can always tag along." I said.

The guard looked like he was giving it some thought before one of his comrades slapped him on the back of the head and reminded him of the pledge he took before they began leading the prisoner down the castle halls.

As we exited the castle, the guards all stepped to the sider as a man in very dull robes began speaking. "Prisoner 318357, also known as William Shawford, you are charged with unlawful acts of honor, abandoning your duty, and arson. For these among other charges, you are hereby exiled from the kingdom and banished to the surface. Have you any last words?" He spoke, looking very disinterested.

I scratched my head slightly. "Tell Prince Blabber-Mouth that I wouldn't have started the fire if he wasn't so sarcastic about it, and that he really should get that thing on his head checked out." I said smiling.

"Is that it?" Asked the man in dull robes.

"Pretty much. Oh, and goodbye." I finished as I turned around. "Take me out boys." I said jokingly, as we began walking down the city streets, towards the entrance of the cave the city resided in.

Four more guards stepped out as they began walking, forming a square around me. As we passed houses people were looking out of windows and doors, some glaring angrily towards us, while others showed faces of sadness and waved us goodbye. I waved back to those who looked sad, and smiled at the ones who looked angry. As we reached the entrance of the city, a tall, pale priest stood, waiting for us.

"Ah, Mason, here to wish me goodbye or is this a religious thing?" I asked as we all stopped in front of the priest.

"You should have just apologized." Mason said, quickly becoming teary-eyed.

"Cheer up man, it's not the end of the world." I said, hugging Mason. "Now, wish me luck?"

"We all do William. Everyone in the kingdom." Mason spoke with a quivering voice.

"Farewell, for now Mason." I said with a empathetic smile.

"Farewell for now." Mason said, tears still welling in his eyes.

After that I started walking up some stairs to the light of the outside world. It was far brighter than I remembered it ever being. As soon as I got outside of the kingdom entrance I pulled out a map I stole from a room in the castle before he saw the prince.

"Looks like the closest colony is... Appleloosa." I spoke to nobody in particular and began walking. After about 5 hours of mind-numbing walking I finally made it to Appleloosa.

-Time Jump-

As I walked through the streets of Appleloosa, everypony seemed to look at me a little oddly, some even with fear. I decided to head to the biggest building in town, assuming it was the most important so I might be able to get some information. After a couple minutes of walking I was knocking at the front door of a large building. An orange stallion answered the door. His initial reaction was about the same as the others, until I started talking.

"Hi." I started.

"Oh, umm… hi." the stallion responded.

"You're Braeburn right? Cousin of the Element of Honesty?" I recognized him from some pictures I got from the spy network the humans had throughout the world.

Braeburn seemed more than surprised that I knew who he or his Cousin were. "Yeah, you know her?" He asked curiously.

"Nope." I replied.

There was a slight pause for a while. "Oh… so, sir if you don't mind me asking, what exactly are you?" Asked Braeburn sheepishly.

"I'm a human." I said, confused that Braeburn didn't know what I was; Humans had been around for longer than the ponies, although we had kind of hidden from the world, but we assumed they still knew about us.

"Well I ain't never heard of a hue-mane before, but it's a pleasure to meet'cha." Said Braeburn, extending his hoof.

I grabbed it and gave it a firm shake. "The pleasure is all mine. Now tell me, you got any work around here you need done?"

"Well I don't, but I reckon my cousin sure could. It's harvesting season and last I heard Big Mac was injured so he can't help." Said Braeburn.

"Alright, and your cousin lives in Ponyville right?" I asked.

"Yep, out at Sweet Apple Acres." Answered Braeburn. "You can take the train there in about an hour, if you got any bits." He continued shortly after.

"Alright, thanks for the info. Braeburn. You ever need anything just write your cousin and if I'm there I'll be happy to come down and help if I can." I finished, turning and walking away.

After I left Braeburn's I headed towards the train station. I may not have any Bits, but I had a feeling I could find a way onto the train. After sneaking around to the back of the train I eventually made it into the luggage cart.

"Man, I hope the ponies aren't as technologically behind as the spy network says so." I said, pulling out my phone.

I started playing some music, and decided to go with one of my favorites. It was a really depressing song, but I liked depressing; it helped me relax. Meanwhile, every creature on the train was eventually brought to tears by a very saddening tune no one could figure out the source of. No one, but the Mane Six that is.

Mane Six POV

"Gosh darn it, where in tarnation is that music coming from?" Said a teary-eyed Applejack.

"I don't know, but I have a feeling the conductor isn't playing it. It doesn't sound like pony-music… Or any music I can recall." Responded Twilight.

"Well we should see if we can help find it then, and hopefully put a stop to it." Said Rainbow Dash, who was barely managing to keep back tears.

And so the Mane Six got out of their room, and started searching the train. "G-guys… I, uh. I think I found it." Fluttershy said just barely loud enough to be heard over the crying of everyone on the train, herself included.

"Way to go Fluttershy, now, let's see if we can put an end to that terrible music." Twilight said, opening the door to the luggage cart.

William POV

Just as I was about to fall asleep the door flung open. I couldn't see who was there because of how bright it suddenly became, but I had a feeling I was about to be thrown off the train. I heard a series of gasps a couple seconds after the door opened. It took me a moment to realize that with my cloak being the way it was, and with the way I was sitting, I looked pretty frightening, especially to Ponies. I quickly stood up, which probably wasn't the best idea considering they were already scared.

"Hi." Was all that came to mind when I was trying to think of something to say to calm them down though it seemed to do something, since they all immediately seemed to go from scared to angry.

"So you're the one playin' dat terribly depressin' music?" Asked Applejack, holder of the Element of Honesty.

"What do you mean 'terribly depressing'? I mean it's sad, but I think it's more relaxing than depressing." I said.

"Well then there must be something wrong with you, because that is the most depressing, saddening, upsetting song I have ever heard in my life!" said the Element of Generosity.

Just then it clicked. These are Ponies, of course it is! "Oooooh." I said to myself before facepalming, getting a few odd looks from the Element Holders. "I'm terribly sorry, I'm not used to being around Ponies. I forget how sheltered you are."

"What do you mean 'sheltered'? Asked the Element of Loyalty in a somewhat aggravated voice.

"And, about the pony thing, um, what exactly are you?" Questioned Twilight, holder of the Element of Magic.

"I'm a human." I explained, although it appeared they still had no idea what that was, from what I could tell. "And I think we both know what I mean by sheltered, Rainbow Dash."

She seemed slightly taken aback and scared when I called her by name. "H-h-h-how do you know my name?!" She practically screamed.

"This is gonna sound creepy for a little, but I know pretty much everything about you. All of you." I said.

As I was expecting a series of disbelieving gasps followed that statement. "Okay, prove it! What's my job?" Rainbow asked.

"Weather Pony. Fastest one in Ponyville too." I answered.

"How'd I get my Cutie Mark?" She questioned.

"You raced some bullies back in Summer Flight Camp when you were a filly, Rainbow Crash." I said, hoping to drive my point home with that last bit.

"... Nobody's called me that in a long time…" She said, seeming very upset.

"I'm sorry, but I had to prove my point." I apologized.

"Well, how do you know all of that stuff?" Asked Twilight.

"Yeah, how do you?" repeated Rainbow Dash in a much less aggravated tone.

"Well isn't it obvious? He's obviously got a super-secret spy network that relays information back to him, and has been for a very long time, including things about us, since we're the Elements of Harmony." Pinkie Pie clarified while appearing on top of my head, startling me

There was a brief moment of silence as everyone stared at Pinkie, myself included. "What?" She finally asked. Everyone facepalmed at once.

"I-Is that... true?" Asked Fluttershy.

"I'd prefer to keep my secrets just that, secret." I said in a stern tone.

"Now, why did all of you come back here?" I asked, trying to get off the topic.

"We were fed up with that garbage you call music!" Said Rainbow.

"Oh, yeah. If you want I can turn it off." I said, pulling out my phone.

"What's that?" Twilight asked as soon as she saw it.

"It's a phone." I said, expecting her to know almost exactly what it was.

"What's a 'Fone'?" She asked curiously.

I sat there for a moment waiting for the 'Just kidding' part, but I got the feeling it wasn't coming, so for the next half an hour I was showing the girls my phone. Twilight kept on asking how it worked, but I didn't tell her; if they don't have this technology already I don't think they really need it.

"So you say you're a human, but in the history books I've read they all say that the humans died off thousands of years ago." Twilight said.

"Well I don't know what to tell you. We've been around the entire time, we just didn't want to be bothered." I said, not quite sure how I felt about what I had just heard.

"Wow, humans must be great at hide and seek if we thought they were extinct this whole time!" Pinkie Pie said.

"Where have all of you been?! Equestria alone has sent out countless amounts of search parties looking for any evidence of humans ever since we learned about them!" Twilight questioned sounding quite astounded.

"Look, when humans don't want to be found, we usually aren't." I said, hoping that would be enough for her, and thankfully it was.

The rest of the train ride was the girls asking me every question that popped into their heads for 12 years… At least that's what it felt like.

I checked my phone once we got to the station and it turned out it was only about an hour or so. "Alright, I think we're at the station, let's go." Said Twilight as her and her group got up and started heading out the door. "William, what are you waiting for?" She asked.

"Oh I'm just gonna make sure I have everything before I go." I lied. Luckily she bought it, and left with the rest of her friends. As soon as she was gone I snuck out the back door and met them out front of the train. "What took you all so long?" I asked sarcastically.

They all seemed confused as to how I beat them getting off of the train, but before they could question anything, "Anyone need any help with their bags?" I asked before getting pelted by bags. "Ever heard of traveling light?" I joked under my breath.

"So sugar cube, where are y'all headin'?" Asked Applejack.

"Well a little birdy told me you could use some help on your farm this harvest, is that true?" I asked.

"Well shoot, I suppose I could use some help with Big Mac bein' injured and all. Whad'ya say? I can't really pay ya but I can provide room and board." She offered.

"You've got yourself a deal." I said, giving her a hand/hoof shake.

"Well girls, I had better be off. I've been away from my poor little animals for too long already." Said Fluttershy.

"Yeah, and I gotta go set up tomorrow's rainstorm. I suggest every one of you stay inside, it's gonna be a doozy." Warned Rainbow Dash before she darted off.

"OOOoooh! I have to throw you a Welcome to Ponyville Party! Or maybe a Welcome Back to Society Party, since we thought you were extinct, Oh! I know! A Welcome to Ponyville and Back to Society Party! I gotta go start planning!" Pinkie explained before bounding off towards Sugarcube Corner.

"I too should get going. I have a large shipment of new fabrics from Saddle Arabia coming in. Honestly dear you should come by some time and let me make you some more… eloquent, clothes." Rarity said to me before heading off towards her boutique.

"I know you just got here, and you probably have work tomorrow, but could you come over to my house so I can run some tests on you, and maybe ask you some questions?" Asked Twilight with a slightly unsettling expression.

"Well, I'd have to ask my boss." I said, glancing towards Applejack.

"Well sure thing, just have him back before 11 tonight." She said.

"Alright, well we'd better get going then, we've got a lot to do in only a couple hours. Bye Applejack!" Twilight said before teleporting us into her house.

After a couple hours of random and somewhat odd tests, as well as a few awkward questions on Twilight's part, she thanked me, and teleported me back to Applejack's farm. I had no idea where I was expected to stay so I just crashed in the barn on a hay bale. The next morning I was woken up by an obnoxious rooster. I assumed that meant it was the break of dawn, but I also assumed that meant Applejack was up, so I went inside the house.

"Well there you are. Where did you go? I couldn't find you anywhere in the house this morning." She asked.

"I didn't know where you were expecting me to sleep, and I didn't want to wake anybody up, so I crashed in the barn." I said, pulling some hay out of my hair.

"Well shoot, I didn't realize I forgot to tell you, you're going to be sleeping in my room and I'm gonna take the couch." Said Applejack sympathetically.

"Not gonna happen. I'm not gonna just walk up in here after you were kind enough to give me a job and then take your room. I can sleep on the couch, I used to all the time at the colony." I said stubbornly.

"Well, I guess if you're okay with that. Also, we need to talk about some of those words you've been usin'." She said. So, over breakfast I explained what some of the words I was using was, and she told me what they said in Equestria. Pretty much I realized that I should start saying "pony" instead of "body", like in "everypony".

During breakfast I was acquainted with her older brother Big Mac, her grandma Granny Smith, and her little sister Apple Bloom, who blushed as soon as she saw me for some unsettling reason, that I made a mental note to ask her about later (-THIS WILL NOT BE WHAT SOME OF YOU ARE THINKING!). After that we headed out and she began explaining what I would be doing. Pretty much it was my job to set up buckets for the apples, and then take the buckets back to the barn, get new buckets, and repeat. I told her I could help gather the apples with machines if I got the right tools, but she seemed to not like that idea.

When I asked why she said "Well, this here farm has been in the Apple family for more generations than I can count, and in all that time they did it all by hoof, so I believe we should too." Applejack stated proudly.

"I see, well it's not my place to tell a mare how to live her life." I stated. "So I'm assuming no machines setting up the buckets either?" I asked.

"Nope." She said, simply enough.

"Well, alright I suppose." I said, a little bit down that my life was going to be that much more difficult.

"I'm glad y'all understand. Now, y'all will be starting tomorrow, but for now you have the day off, and I have to go get Applebloom ready for school. Bye Will." She called.

I paused for a moment, not used to having a nickname, but I wasn't about to complain. I made my way into town and eventually I found Rarity's place. It looked like a palace of fashion, and eloquence that I made a mental note to change. As I entered a little bell above the door rung, making my presence known.

"I'll be right with you." called Rarity. After a couple of minutes of me checking out her house, she made her way downstairs. "Ahh, why hello Darling, have you taken my advice and come by to get fitted for some more… eloquent clothes?" She asked.

"Well I would say yes, but I don't have any bits yet, so I'm afraid I'm not." I said, suddenly realizing my lack of acceptable currency and feeling utterly like a moron.

"Don't be silly dear, the sheer publicity of you wearing my clothes will be more than enough payment, I'm sure." She responded.

Sadly, I had a feeling she was right. I was, from what I could tell so far, one of the first humans to be seen since the Colony went into hiding, and that was a couple thousand years ago. So, despite my hopes of not getting too much attention, it seemed somehow inevitable.

"Alright Rarity, let's see what you can do." I said.

After a fairly short couple of hours, and a few awkward moments with Rarity being 'awestruck', if you know what I mean, I had 3 new pairs of pants, 4 new shirts, including a button up, a second pair of shoes, 5 new pairs of socks, and a tux.

"Thanks Rarity, I really appreciate it." I called from the door as I began walking over to Pinkie's place for some food, but before I could make it a fancy looking carriage flew down in front of me.

"Mr. William?" Asked the lead pegasus, who if I had to guess was a guard.

"The one and only." I replied, slightly confused as to what was going on.

"Your presence has been requested by Princess Celestia and Princess Luna at once." He stated.

"No thanks." was my reply, which caused a fair amount of ponies around me to simultaneously gasp.

"Sir, I don't quite think you understood me: it wasn't an offer." He said, walking up to me and attempting to look me in the eyes, despite him being easily 2 feet shorter than I was.

"Look buddy, I don't think you understood Me, I'm not going, if she really wants to see me then she can come here, I mean can't she teleport?" I stated, causing several jaws to drop.

"I'm sorry I have to do this Sir, but the Princess's orders-." He said, getting into what I could only assume was his "battle stance".

That is, until he noticed me walking away towards Pinkie's. I had a feeling he was angry already, so I was prepared when he charged full speed at me as I was walking away. I quickly sidestepped and sent him barreling into the brick wall of a nearby home. I'd say just about every pony that was within view of what just happened was in shock for one reason or another, be it me blowing off their Princess's, or what just happened to the guard who just launched himself face first into a brick wall. Soon after the collision, the rest of the guard-pegasi flew over to him, put him into the back of the carriage and flew off as quickly as they could to inevitably tell on me.

I didn't mind much though, for a few reasons; For starters, I did nothing wrong other than refuse to be whisked away by some random pegasi, and there was also the fact that I technically had diplomatic immunity, so the worst they could do was expel me, and last but certainly not least, the ponies ode a good deal to the humans for one reason or another, and I know Celestia and Luna would have to agree. So, with those three things in mind I continued walking to the delicious looking bakery that was Pinkie Pie's home. Right as I was about to step into the door though, I was teleported away into a room with a large white alicorn and a slightly smaller dark blue one.

"Seriously, you could not have more terrible timing," I said, upset I didn't get to eat anything; I was starting to get pretty hungry.

"Why hello to you too." Said Celestia in a nonchalant tone. "So, what's this I hear about you assaulting one of my royal guards?" She questioned.

"You mean the pegasus who flew into a brick wall?" was my response, which caused Celestia and Luna to both receive questioning and confused looks upon their faces. "Yeah, I'll take the blame for that one, but I didn't even touch the poor guy, he just lost his temper is all." I explained.

"I see... we'll have that matter looked into." Celestia replied.

"So why did you want to talk to me?" I asked.

"Why did you not accept my carriage to the palace?" she retorted.

"Why didn't you just teleport me here to begin with?" I challenged slightly.

"Because it isn't polite." She said in a way that seemed like she was trying to make me feel bad for being 'oh so rude'.

"Fair enough." was all she got from me.

"Anyways, back to the matter at hoof. Welcome to Equestria, I'm sure you'll find it quite, amazing." She said in a slightly arrogant tone.

"Yeah it's alright." I said, crushing any arrogance she had. "A-alright? Not amazing? Or Fantastic?" She stuttered slightly.

"Nah, just alright." I replied. I swear I saw her eye twitch a little.

"Well, I suppose you just haven't been around long enough to see how truly wonderful Equestria is." She spoke, mainly to herself I think.

"Actually I'd say I have." I said with a bit of a smirk. "With all do respect, with all the medical advancements we've had, odds are I've 'Been around' longer than you have." I retorted.

At this point she was giving me a death glare, and I knew that if she thought she could get away with it, she would have killed me on the spot. Now some people would have gotten a little scared at knowing that, but I realized two things first. One, she hasn't killed me yet, so odds are she won't. And two, I could pretty much do whatever I wanted because technically I had diplomatic immunity. As this epiphany hit me, I decided to have some fun.

"You know I'm was actually bit surprised at how technologically behind you guys are." I said, causing her to smirk a little.

"That's because magic is far superior than technology ever could be." She said, sounding ever so smug and cocky.

And I knew as soon as I heard that remark made with such emotions, that I just had to take that moment from her. "Celestia, do you know how magic works?" I asked her. "And not just how to do it, but how to create it?" I finished.

She immediately froze, either in doubt or shock of what I was implying. I quickly pulled out my phone and switched over to a scientific website purely focused on the study of magic. She quickly levitated it over to herself and as soon as she saw it her jaw dropped. Luna quickly became interested and easily took the phone from her stunned magical grasp. Upon seeing it, she reacted with a nod of approval and whistle to match. After a few moments of Celestia being apparently frozen in place, Luna took the reigns of the conversation (I know, I'm terrible).

"Well, back to the topic at hoof." Luna spoke. "For starters, we want to know a few things, like how the humans are doing? Or any possible trade opportunities we could open?" She asked, sounding a bit excited herself as she spoke.

"I'm sorry, but I can't say much about our trades, but I can safely say that we're doing pretty good." I replied, crushing her excitement a little, despite my wishes; Luna seemed a bit less egotistical than her sister.

"Very well, and I am very glad to hear that you are all doing alright." She spoke with genuine happiness. "Anyways, onto our second matter at hand: I don't suppose you have any Bits?" She asked.

"No, but I was thinking I could just exchange some cash at the bank." I replied, pulling out some Twenties.

"No no no, that won't do. I'm afraid that Your 'Cash' isn't a viable means of currency anymore. Simply put no one would take it." She said. "But, I am prepared to offer you some financial help, as it were." She responded, causing me to cock an eyebrow at her.

"Look, I'm not interested in taking money I haven't earned." I replied: I didn't like owing other people favors, especially the diplomatic types.

"Well I am glad to inform you that is not what we are here to offer." She said happily.

"Then what is it?" I questioned, very suspicious of what was to come.

"This." She said simply, materializing a piece of paper and a quill from thin air and levitating them to me.

As I read the large bold words towards the top of the page, I was a little bit shocked, and a little bit curious. "An aptitude test?" I questioned.

"Yes, we offer them to all incoming creatures of different races to help them try to fit in." She explained.

"I see…" I said, glancing over the paper. "Alright I guess, thanks Luna." I said as I sat down and began filling it out. After about an hour or so, I had finished the, arguably, overly-detailed test, and had passed it over to Luna and a no-longer frozen Celestia, who both seemed to gasp at my results. "Oh boy."


	2. Chapter 2

AHW: Hey guys, sorry it took a bit longer to update, but better late than never, right? Also sorry for the short chapters, but as I've said before (At least I think) I don't have a lot of free time to write, and I'm also fairly new. Anyways, other than that, I hope you guys enjoy reading.

* * *

I had always known I was a bad person at heart. Now I don't mean like I abuse children or anything, but I just never really cared about other people. Turns out, that was clearly visible in my test results.

"Well... by the looks of this it shouldn't be too hard to find a spot for you." Celestia said, causing Luna to let out a small gasp.

"S-sister, you aren't thinking what I think you're thinking, are you?!" She questioned, sounding slightly worried.

"I am afraid I am." She replied, looking at me. "William, how do you feel about joining the Equestrian Army?" She questioned, causing both Luna and I to go into shock.

After a few moments I recovered, and then I really began thinking. "I don't know… the Military? Really?.. Well, It's Equestria, it couldn't be that bad, could it? But what if it is? No, it won't be: It's Equestria." I thought.

"Okay, sure." was my response, causing Celestia to smile and Luna to get a worried expression on her face.

"Will," She said. "I'm sure the guards will be accepting, but if there's anypony that is giving you a hard time, just let us know." She said, sounding genuinely worried, which in turn made me start to worry.

But by then it was too late. And anyways, it was Equestria. "Alright, right this way." Celestia spoke up, breaking what was becoming an awkward silence.

We walked around the castle for a couple of hours signing me up, having my armor and weapons made (Which I put in a special request for special made… items.), and last but not least I met up with my Squad. They seemed like solid guys, but I quickly got the feeling that I should try to make friends as quickly as possible.

"So, you're the new recruit, eh?" Asked an older stallion, who if I had to guess was about 61.

"Yes sir." I replied, in a casual yet strict tone I was glad I managed.

"Prior experience?" He asked.

"No." Was my reply, which was apparently the wrong answer as every one of them stopped what they were doing and gave me an odd look.

"If you don't have any experience, why'd they put you here?" He asked.

"I'm not exactly sure what you mean by that sir." I replied.

"Do you know what Squad this is, Soldier?" he asked in a slightly hostile tone.

"No sir." I replied again, trying to keep my nerves steeled.

"This is the A squad. We are who Celestia calls when she needs something done right the first time." He responded, causing everyone in the barracks to look very smug.

"Now, do you really think you belong here?" He asked, sounding noticeably threatening.

"With all do respect sir, I do." I responded, causing him to smile darkly.

"Straight Shot, taking him to the firing range. Let's see what he's got." He said.

As we walked down, I felt especially calm, which seemed to make everyone around me seem either curious or cocky. I was calm, simply, because of the special order I put in to the blacksmith.

After a few minutes we made it to the range, which was a large concrete building with various creature-shaped targets attached to a ropes that could be pulled back to examine how well you did. Shot quickly used his magic to pick up a bow and shot three arrows and without looking put them directly through a Changeling Target's heart and both eyes. With a satisfied look he walked away from the range. After that, a large dark red earth pony with a brown mane offered me a bow, which I kindly refused.

"Ah, giving up?" he asked as I put down the case I had been carrying.

"Nope." I replied simply, finishing opening up the small case. As I opened it I smiled wide, while everypony around me stared in curiosity as I pulled out various odd looking parts and attached them to one another like a three dimensional puzzle. After it was completely together, I wasn't surprised to still see the odd looks I was getting. The item I currently held in my hands was a generic rifle that I instructed and help the blacksmith make. It didn't have a scope, because that would require a glass works shop, but I had plenty of experience with shooting so I wasn't worried.

I quickly loaded a clip with bullets from my pocket and inserted it into the gun. As everyone watched me take aim with wonder, I smiled to myself, knowing that they had no idea what to expect. So, as I fired off three shots into a Pony-Shaped target. First into it's head, then it's heart, and lastly where it's privates would be. Of course, I was the only one to actually see the target get hit as the loud bang of the gun made everypony jump, cover their ears, and pretty much freak out. After I was done I waited for everyone to get their bearings, and then one of them slowly started pulling the target back towards us.

As it came within view the already startled ponies grew slightly pale as they gazed upon the target that, being made of fairly weak material, was missing large chunks where I had shot. I noticed that as they all gazed upon my final shot the stallions grew slightly paler somehow.

"...Welcome to the team." Said the pony I assumed was the commander.

"Yes!" I yelled, causing the majority of the ponies to jump again.

After that we all made our way back to the barracks where I was introduced to everyone before Princess Luna and Celestia came in.

"Hello Princesses." Said Commander Steel Fury.

"Is everypony okay?" They asked, obviously concerned.

"Why yes, everypony is fine, if not a bit hard of hearing." He said, causing a few ponies, as well as me, to start laughing, much to the Princesses confusion.

"We heard a loud cracking sound, and when we checked the range…" Said Celestia.

"Oh, that was my fault, sorry." I spoke up over the lessening laughter.

"You? But how?" Celestia asked, sounding shocked much to my pleasure.

"I'm sorry Princess, but that is on a need-to-know basis." I said, laughing at my own stupid joke.

"Well, as the Co-General of the Army, I suppose I order you to tell me." She said, causing all eyes to turn on me to see what I would do.

"Well as a person who doesn't want to tell you, I kindly refuse." I said, causing a few people to gasp, including Luna, as Celestia became visibly angry.

"William, a word." She spoke with enough venom to kill an Ursa. As I stepped outside, she slammed the door to the barracks, leaving everypony in the room with mouths wide open.

We walked for a while before we got to a nice little room with a fireplace on one wall, and a bookshelf on the other. It had a carpet covering the floor, and many antique looking utilities that anyone could tell were purely decorative.

Celestia walked over to the large couch near the center of the room, and I took the couch across from it. "William," She spoke with an oddly neutral tone that quickly put me on guard. "I know we may have our differences, but I take my job very seriously, and I will not be disrespected in front of my citizens. Do you understand?" She asked, keeping the same neutral tone throughout the entirety of her speech.

I wordlessly nodded my head, since she did have a point, and I had been fairly rude to her, in front of her own guard nonetheless.

"Very well. Now, I'm not going to ask about the source of the sound again as long as you can promise that it will in no way endanger My little ponies." She said.

"I promise that it will in no way endanger them." I lied.

I held my breath as Celestia looked me over briefly before she seemed to accept what I told her as the truth. "Alright. Now, since we are already here, is there anything you'd like to discuss?" She asked.

"Actually, yes." I responded. "First off, a little while back I took a job for Applejack, will I be able to continue working there?" I asked. "Ah yes, I had a feeling you'd ask something like that. Yes, the squad I assigned you to is only for the most important of missions, and is rarely sent out." She said, causing me to become very happy. "Also, you are officially in an elite group of my military, and thus you will be payed, and housing will be provided for you wherever you like it." She continued.

"Could I have it out by the Everfree Forest, near Ponyville?" I asked, surprising her for a moment, but she quickly recovered. "Of course." She responded. "Oh, and nothing too big either." I said, but she ignored me, instead replying with "Well, now that those are out of the way, you are free to head back to Ponyville. Construction on your house will begin soon, and will be over within about a month's time."

"There is a waiting carriage outside that will take you to Sweet Apple Acres." She said.

"Alright I guess. Bye Celestia." I said as I got up and left the room, passing Luna in the hallways, she looked at me with an expression somewhere between pity and sorrow.

"What the hell does she think happened to me?" I questioned myself.

When I got to the carriage the ponies all seemed to turn pale upon seeing me. "Um, hi?" I half-asked.

"H-hello Sir!" One said, sounding slightly strained in keeping his official voice.

"Why are you guys being so weird?" I asked, knowing that Equestrian Guards are known for their strict emotionless appearances when on duty.

"Sir… We heard about the weapon." He said simply enough.

"Don't worry guys, I'm on your side, remember?" I said, causing them all to look a bit shocked.

"Celestia didn't tell you did she?" I asked.

"Tell us what Sir?" He asked, all fear gone from him and his comrades.

"I'm part of the guard now." I said, earning myself a few smiles as I got into the carriage.

After a couple of minutes of me admiring my new gun, we arrived in front of Sweet Apple Acres. As I made my way inside I saw a note on the couch and read it aloud to myself.

"Will, sleepover at Twilight's. Come as soon as you read this, that's an order." I read aloud, chuckling at the last part. "If only she knew." I finished.

"Knew what?" Asked Big Mac as he walked into the room.

"Well, I joined the Army today." I said.

"Good for ya'." He said. "You still gonna be able to work here?" He questioned.

"Yeah, for the most part. I hope it's okay if I ever need some time off for it?" I asked.

"Eeyup." Was all he said as he began walking up the stairs to his room. "You better start headin' out." He reminded me before he disappeared completely up the stairs.

As I made my way to the Library I couldn't help hold me head high. I took some old rope from the barn and made a little sling for my rifle so I could put it over my shoulder and behind my back wherever I went. Sure I got a few looks but I mostly ignored them. As I approached the house I noticed that all the lights were off. Assuming the worst, I climbed up the tree and found a balcony on what I assumed was the second floor. I crawled into what I assume was Twilight's Room. It was dark, but the sun was just beginning to set so there was a little bit of light.

I slowly made my way over to the door, and quietly opened it. I heard some hushed whispers coming from downstairs, so after a bit of stumbling around blindly I found the stairs and made my way downstairs. I stayed low until I saw a pitch white pony standing out a little in the darkness. It looked like they were trying to hide so I quietly made my way over to them and when I was close enough, I lunged at them, taking them to the floor with them screaming as I pinned them to the ground with my elbow on their windpipe.

The lights quickly flashed on, and shortly after I was the one being pinned by a cyan pegasus and a butter-colored pegasus. When I was tackled I landed on my back, causing my gun to go off and emit a noise loud enough to stop all motion in the room, as well as take away a part of my ear, as well as my hearing.

After a minute or two everypony was recovering and taking their bearings. And then there was me, incapable of hearing, laying on my back, holding my ear and biting my lip so hard it bled just to stop myself from screaming.

The girls all crowded around me, enraged at my actions. I couldn't hear them but by the looks of it they were yelling their heads off. Eventually they must have realized that something was wrong, either because I wasn't responding or because I was clenching my ear with a death grip while biting my lip. Fluttershy was the first to notice the small pool of blood seeping through the cracks between my fingers, and immediately began attempting to remove my hand from my injury, with unexpected force might I add. Despite my best efforts she managed to remove my hand and then gasped... Or at least I think she gasped…

After that a white earth-pony with bright pink hair walked up to me and began fiddling with my head. Eventually I saw her take some bandaged that Fluttershy brought over to her and began bandaging my ear. I assumed I had lost a lot of blood by that point though, because I began feeling light headed and passed out.

I woke up feeling slightly better. There was an IV in my arm connected to what appeared to be a blood bag. I made sure to remove it as quickly as possible, since I wasn't a exactly a "needle person". After that I looked to the left and noticed two things. One, I was in a hospital, and two the girls were all leaned up against each other sleeping in chairs next to me.

They did seem bigger, but I quickly realized that was because I was on the floor. It made enough sense, seeing as I probably wouldn't fit in a pony bed, however they were nice enough to cover the floor in pillows and blankets as a nice substitute. I didn't want to wake them, but I did want to get up and stretch, so as quietly as I could I got up and made my way over to the door.

I was halfway out without waking the girls until all of a sudden. "Sir! Please, you must stay in bed!" The white pony I remembered from the party spoke rather loudly, waking the girls.

"W-*Yawn*-Will, are you up?" Asked a sleepy sounding Applejack.

"Oh boy! I knew you'd wake up soon! I knew it! They said you probably would be asleep for at least a day but I knew they were wrong!" Said Pinkie Pie, sounding very much like a morning person, much to the other five's disapproval.

"Yeah Pinkie, I'm awake… What happened?" I asked.

"You attacked Rarity, and then when Shy and I tackled you that thing on your back made a really loud noise and took off part of your ear." Rainbow Dash informed me.

"Oh, okay… Wait! Where is the thing that was on my back?!" I asked, realizing how dangerous it could potentially be.

"It's being held in the hospital safe, just in case." Said the nurse.

"Could you bring it to me?" I asked somewhat frantically.

I didn't care where it was I wanted to be sure. I promised Celestia it wasn't dangerous to her ponies and I was already in deep shit if she knew about what happened. Either because of my frantic voice or something else, one way or another she went off to fetch my rifle.

"So what is that thing anyways?" Asked Twilight, letting her inner scholar shine through.

"It's a replica of something we have back in the colony." I replied, causing her to really become interested.

"Can I-" She started before I cut her off.

"No. No one is to handle that thing but me, understood?" I asked, causing them to all give me an odd look.

"Boy have I got some explaining to do." I thought out loud.

"Indeed you do." Said Rarity.

"Sorry Rarity… I thought-" This time it was Me who was cut off.

"No need to explain Darling, just… please don't do that again." She said, giving me a sheepish smile.

"Sure thing Rarity." I said, smiling at her as warmly as I could.

"Here is your… thing, sir." Said the nurse, handing me the rifle especially carefully.

"Thank you Miss…" I paused since I didn't know her name.

"Redheart." She said, smiling.

"Well thank you Miss Redheart." I said.

"Alright girls, I just gotta get this bill out of the way and then we can all go to the library and I can do some explaining." I said.

"That won't be necessary William, I just payed for your bills." Celestia said.

"Oh fuck me." I said under my breath, causing Nurse Redheart to blush and excuse herself.

"Alright… Let's go." I said defeatedly.

Everyone was silent during the walk home. Once we got inside everyone took a spot on their sleeping bag, including Celestia who materialized one for herself, as well as one for me. As I sat down, I pulled the rifle off of my back and laid it across my lap.

"Alright… Well girls, to start things off, I joined the army." I said, causing them all to gasp, minus Celestia.

Before they could ask any questions I decided to just get the rest of it out of the way. "And Celestia, remember when you took me to the Blacksmith?" I asked, getting a nod. "I had him make me some custom parts for this." I said, slightly lifting the gun in the air. "It's called a rifle. It launches these," I said, pulling out a bullet. "at high speeds. Think of it like a huge upgrade of a bow." I explained. "Anyways, that's what made the loud noise at the range. It's loud as hell." I said, chuckling slightly. "Anyways, when I got to Sweet Apple Acres I found a note saying to come to the Library for a sleepover, so I got some rope in the barn and made a little sling so it would be easier to carry around. Once I got to the Library though, I noticed all the lights were off. I knew they were supposed to be here, so I assumed the worst and climbed up through the second floor window. After that I heard whispering coming from downstairs, so I went down and tackled the first pony I saw. Then, when Rainbow and Fluttershy tackled me I landed on the gun, and it went off next to my ear and took part of it off." I finished, looking to the floor for comfort, only to find none.

As I turned my head back up to look at everypony in the room I noticed they were all giving me some kind of look, whether saddened in the cases of most of the girls, or impressed in the case of Celestia, who began to speak shortly after I finished.

"Well, I am upset you lied to me, but nopony was hurt too badly, and it was because you were trying to help… I'll excuse it. This time." She said, causing everyone in the room to smile, and me to have a mini celebration in my head.

"Have fun explaining this to the rest of the town." She spoke before smirking and teleporting away.

As this sudden realization hit me, only two simple words came to mind. "Oh shit."


	3. Chapter 3

Hey guys, sorry about the late update, but I've been really busy with Finals week and getting my grades where I want them to be. Anyways, there shouldn't be anymore breaks like this as far as I know of, but if there is I apologize in advance. Anyways, this chapter is going to be a little bit on the darker side. Please, let me know how I do and remember, criticism is always appreciated.

Note: If you want to see your OC in the squad, pm me with his/her name, talent, color scheme, breed (Pegasi, Unicorn, Earth), etc.

Space is limited though, so sooner is better than later.

* * *

The next day Twilight arranged for a town meeting to be held concerning what had happened at the would-have-been party. As expected, everypony showed up, and also as expected, everypony had a lot of questions, and were not at all opposed to using their 'Outside Voices'. Luckily though, seeing the girls walk up onto the stage pretty much shut everypony up. At least I'm going to assume it was the girls and not the fact that I walked out with them. Either way though, it was dead silent.

Twilight walked up and started things off "Hello Everypony, thank you for meeting with us here today. It has come to our attention that many of you may have some questions." The mob of ponies that was Ponyville erupted in conversation at that. "Please, please, Everypony listen. We know you have questions, and for that reason we have decided it is time to introduce you to the newest citizen of Ponyville; William Shawford." She said, motioning to me and stepping back slightly as I took center stage.

As I walked up there wasn't a sound, as hundreds of eyes stared judging me, much to my annoyance. "Alright," I started. "So, raise of hooves, who has a question?" I asked, as just about every hoof in the audience went up. "Well… Crap." I whispered quiet enough for nopony to hear.

-Time Jump-

"Man, that was exhausting" Pinkie Pie said as we entered Twilight's Library to finish the sleep over we never had.

"Pinkie, you took a nap halfway through..." Rainbow reminded her.

"Oh yeah!" She exclaimed, sounding as energetic as ever.

As soon as everypony was settled down a yawn was heard from the upstairs portion of the house, soon after which a little purple and green dragon Twilight told me was name Spike began descending the stairs. "Hey Twilight, hi girls, hey Will." He said as he walked past us into the kitchen.

"Wait... Twilight? Girls? Oh yeah!" He exclaimed running back up the stairs before coming back down holding an envelope.

"What is it Spike?" Twilight asked as they all gathered around him.

"Princess Celestia sent a letter over here for you guys with instructions to give it to you as soon as possible!" He said, releasing the letter into Twilight's magical grasp.

As she opened it her friends all gathered around her, and within seconds each one let out a gasp.

"What is it?" I asked.

"I don't know! But it says to head to the castle as soon as possible! She says it's urgent!" She said before everypony headed out, apparently completely forgetting about me.

"Well… that was odd…" I spoke to myself before I heard a knock on the front door.

I walked over and opened it only to see a royal carriage sitting out front. "Sorry guys, you just missed them. I bet if you leave now though you could probably catch them no problem.

"Actually Sir, we're here for you." They said, confusing me a fair amount. "Sir your squad will fill you in when you get there." They said, as I accepted it and got into the carriage.

After I got to the castle I went to my squad's Barracks and found everypony gathering their things and tending to their stuff, such as sharpening blades, or arrowheads.

"There you are soldier. Hurry up and get your things together, we're moving out. I'll explain the rest on the ride." He said before going back to his own things.

The only thing I could do was start cleaning my gun until one of the unicorns of the group walked up to me. "Hey, you bringing that noisy thing of yours again?" She asked.

"Yeah, why?" I replied.

"Let me see it real quick." She said as I lifted up the gun.

Soon her horn started glowing and after a minute or two it stopped and she gave me a reassuring smile. "There you go, should be quiet as a sleeping Cockatrice now." she said before walking away with a satisfied look.

"Well that was nice." I mumbled to myself as I went back to cleaning my gun that was now apparently silent, much to my delight.

Soon enough we left the Barracks and eventually found ourselves at the train station. We didn't draw much of a crowd as everypony had disguised their equipment and I was currently being made invisible by one of the unicorns of the group. As we walked by the train, looking for our cart, I noticed the girls all boarding a cart. I instantly became suspicious as we boarded the cart directly behind theirs, which was completely empty of passengers other than us, and was complete with tinted black windows so that nopony could see inside.

"Alright everypony listen up," The Commander began as the train began to move.

"For the sake of our newest recruit I am going to give a summary of our mission." He began. "We are here to support the Elements of Harmony in every way they need, but there is a catch: we must not be seen by anypony. If you get caught, you do whatever it takes to keep them quiet. Anything." He said, eyeing me especially. "Now, we are going up to what I have been told is the Crystal Empire that has, apparently, reappeared. We are to provide whatever is necessary for the Elements of Harmony, as subtly as possible. Do you understand?" He asked, once again making it very clear who he was talking to by staring me in the eyes as he finished.

"Yes Sir." Everypony, me included, answered before going off to do our own thing as we heard the Commander say "Just to let you know, it's a 12 hour trip." Causing everypony to moan in frustration.

After the terrible news I decided to do my best to sleep through the trip, but before I could get to sleep my phone went off. I checked the Caller ID and it showed it was one of my loyal contacts, and best friends, in the spy network.

"Hey man, what's up?" I asked.

"Not much man. Heard you got exiled from the colony." He replied.

"Yeah man but it's no big deal. I made my way over to Equestria and join the army. I'm actually on a mission right now." I replied.

"Since when have you ever been good with bows and swords?" He asked, chuckling.

"Actually I had their blacksmith make me a rifle, like the ones we used to go down and shoot at the range." I said.

"Oh nice, anyways where are you set up? I might have to come by sometime and say hi, and not to mention meet some fine mares." He said, ending in a flirtatious tone.

"Man you are such a dog. And I'm having a house built for me in Ponyville, but until it's done I'm staying at a place called Sweet Apple Acres." I finished. "Ah nice man, I love their apple pies! Sucks we had to get them smuggled in through some of those black market changelings. Anyways, when you're done with your army mission, call me and I'll see if I can drop by." He said.

"Alright man, I will." I replied.

"Okay, bye man." He said.

"Bye." I finished.

After the brief conversation with an old friend I decided to go back to my original plan and sleep, which I did for a good while until I was woken up by a victorious "Yes!" accompanied by a contradictory "No!". As I looked up I saw some of the ponies playing what appeared to be Gold Fish. "Sheltered Ponies." I mumbled to myself as I drifted back off to sleep.

-Time Jump-

"Oh god, why does my head hurt?" I questioned myself as I woke up to a throbbing headache.

"Will, are you familiar with sleepwalking?" A unicorn mare spoke up from a seat next to me.

"Oh god, not this again." I pleaded. "How much did I drink?" I asked, knowing from past experiences what I had done.

"Well, we started off with 12 bottles of hard cider, and we currently have 5…" She responded, causing me to let out another moan of frustration, pain, and disappointment.

"Will, you can open your eyes, we've turned off the lights for your room." She said as I slowly opened my eyes to see a nice, dark room.

"So why sleep-drinking?" She asked.

"I'd prefer not to talk about it." I said lazily, as I found the softest thing within arms reach and hugged it close to me.

"Sorry to do this to you Will, but the Commander is demanding that you tell us." She said.

"Tell him it's complicated." I said, hoping to avoid the details of my sleeping nature.

"I don't think he's gonna accept that." She said sadly.

"Can you just check? Please?" I asked, squeezing the soft thing in my arms closer to myself.

"Alright, I'll try, but you're gonna have to let go of me first." She said, chuckling lightly.

I instantly shot up and opened my eyes, much to my entire bodies regret. "I'm so sorr-" I started.

"It's alright Will." She responded before I could finish, and then she left the room. After a moment of refreshing silence she came back looking fairly upset. "Sorry Will, I'm gonna need more than 'It's complicated'." She said, sounding genuinely sad.

"Ugh, alright." I said, grasping the bridge of my nose in an attempt to reduce some of my stress. "Well, when I was young my parents died," I said as she gasped, obviously not expecting this to be as heavy as it was. "They died saving me from a burning house, but they didn't know I had already escaped into the backyard. I came around the front of the house just in time to see them charge in… After that day I fell into a deep depression, and made a habit of drinking to help myself get to sleep. Anyways, sometimes I have dreams about it, and I find the closest alcoholic substance around." I finished, leaning onto my side and rolling onto my back before putting my hands behind my head.

"I-I… I am so sorry Will… I'll, go tell the Commander." She said before pulling me into a hug which I returned in full, before she left the room to tell the Commander.

After that, nopony came into my room, which I was kinda thankful for; I didn't really feel like talking at the moment. It was like that for the rest of the trip, with me staying in my room.

"Mom, Dad… I'm sorry..." I said, before crying myself to sleep.

Eventually I was woken up by a knock upon my door. "Come in." I said as shortly after the door opened.

The same mare from earlier walked in. "Hey there Will, you okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, I'm fine… Just needed some sleep is all." I said.

There was a brief moment of awkward silence, before she broke it by speaking. "Well, we're here. It's time to head out." She said. I gathered my things and we walked out of the room together, where I was greeted with nothing but looks of sympathy, much to my discomfort.

"Alright everypony, I have recently been informed that Princess Celestia has arranged a safe house for us. Dark Storm, Silver Wing, you two are on surveillance duty: scout out the area and take care of any immediate threats, and do your best to keep out of sight. The safe house is three clicks west of here, and five clicks north." The Commander said as two pegasi, one with a black coat and mane, gold colored eyes, and a somehow darker black cloud as a cutie mark, the other with a silver coat and a deep orange mane, with orange eyes to match his mane and a bow shooting a silver arrow as a cutie mark stepped towards the door before flying off.

"Everypony else, we are headed towards the safe house. Night Watch, put an invisibility spell on Will." He said as the unicorn who had cloaked me previously stepped towards me as his horn began to glow. He had a dark purple coat, with a short black mane, and light purple eyes. After he was done, he joined everypony else in gathering their things and hiding them in various places on themselves.

After a few minutes of preparing, we all headed out as a unit, doing our best to look inconspicuous, aside from myself who was enjoying my invisibility by making funny faces and gestures at ponies we passed. We eventually made it to the safe house, which was located nearby what appeared to be a literal crystal kingdom.

"Alright everypony, make yourselves at home. Now, we wait." Commander Steel said as we all entered the, admittedly, nice house.

The first couple days there was no action, at least for me. There were a few more recon missions, and some surveillance missions to make sure the girls were doing alright, but other than that it had been pretty slow, until one day.

"Will, the Commander wants to talk to you." Starlight, the mare who talked to me in my room on the train, spoke up.

"Thanks Star." I said as I got up from where I was laying and made my way into the Commander's room. "You wanted to see me?" I asked.

"Will, I've gotten word that there is a certain artifact that the Elements of Harmony will need to do whatever it is they are doing, but it has been hidden. We have located it, but it appears to be inside a room with a terrible dark magic surrounding it. Nopony in the squad has been able to disable it, or to make it to the crystal." The Commander said.

"And you want me to try and get it?" I asked.

"Yes. From what we can make of the squad's retellings of the events, the room causes everypony inside to face their worst fears. So what do you think? You wanna give it a try?" He questioned, sounding very serious.

"Sure thing." I replied, causing him to gawk in confusion. "Will… Starlight told us about what you said… You don't have to do this if you don't wan-" He spoke before I interrupted him.

"Sir, with all due respect, I would like to think I'm tougher than what you think. It may not be easy, but I am confident I can make it through the room." I said, causing him to sigh in defeat.

"Alright then, Dark Storm and Starlight will take you to the room, but if things get too tough he is instructed to pull you out of the room." The Commander spoke.

"Fair enough." I responded as we began walking back to the main room. "Dark Storm, Starlight, escort Will to the room." The Commander spoke before every set of eyes once again fell upon me, all filled with either worry or surprise, or both. Either way, Dark Storm and Starlight approached us. "Will, are you sure you want to do this? None of us have done very well in that room, and just from that one story we have a feeling you're going to have a much harder time." Star said, with Dark Storm nodding in agreement.

"Guys, if I can't do this, then somepony else is gonna have to go back in, and I'm not about to let that happen." I said, as Star looked defeated before leading me out the door with Dark Storm.

We arrived at the room after a fairly long walk, or at least it felt long. "Alright Will, before you go in we're going to tie a rope around you in case things go south." Dark Storm said in a very odd accent, as he began tying said rope around my waist. "Alright mate, whenever you're ready, head on in." He said.

I took a moment to remind myself why I was doing this to steel my nerves, and made my way into the room. As soon as I was completely inside the room I could tell something wasn't right. My head began to throb, and the rest of my body seemed to grow warmer, as the walls began quickly fading into a dark smoke that soon filled the room. Out of instinct I got lower to avoid the smoke. As I went further I saw a house in the distance that was burning, but that wasn't the terrible part: it was My house. As I began to move closer and closer to my building home I saw the figures of my parents. They were panicking. After a moment they leaned in and kissed one another, before both dashing into the house. I paused at that moment, just stood still as I began hoping and praying to every god I knew, even to Luna and Celestia, asking them to let my parents make it out of the house, but apparently my prayers went unanswered, as the house collapsed, taking with it my memories, my cherished belongings, and most importantly, most devastatingly, my parents.

I fell to the floor clenching my eyes shut, sobbing as I suddenly became very cold. As I opened my eyes I realized that the ground had grown muddy, with dead leaves and twigs scattered about. As I looked up and took in my surroundings I realized that I was in a forest. I used to come to this forest when I was young, and needed a break from the rest of the world. It was a sanctuary of mine, or at least it was until…

My eyes quickly sprang open as in a moment of clarity I saw three things: The Crystal Heart I had been sent in to retrieve, a long narrow passageway towards it, and most terrifyingly, a gigantic, behemoth Ursa Minor stood between me and my goal. I credited myself for my legs not giving out the moment I saw the beast starring me down. After a brief moment of staring at each other it began to charge, quickly approaching the spot where I sat defenseless. In a spark of realization I dove to the right, barely dodging a gigantic paw slamming down behind me. As I got up from the ground, I barely missed another paw swipe by quickly ducking under it. As it recovered from the shock of the heavy blow it nearly delivered to me, I ran, faster than I had ever run before, towards the Crystal Heart. As I ran I could hear the Ursa Minor roar in frustration before it began charging after me and a breakneck speed. While I ran I clumsily tripped over one of my own feet, and tumbled to the ground. Within milliseconds the Ursa Minor stood over me, before lifting a paw into the air and sending it down towards me.

I put my arms up and closed my eyes, as if it would somehow save me, but there was no strike, no pain, no anything. As I opened my eyes I appeared about 30 feet from one of my best friends from the Colony, named Billy. My eyes widened at the remembrance of the event that changed my life. In front of me stood one of my best friends, holding a loaded gun up to his temple. I screamed out, springing from my spot on the floor and charging towards him, begging him to stop, but to no avail. He pulled the trigger, ending his own life.

As I began wiping tears from my eyes that I didn't realize I had shed, I rested my head on something cold, and hard. As I heard Starlight and Dark Storm call my name, I looked up only to see that I was lying on the Crystal Heart. "Will! You did it!" Dark Storm screamed as they ran up to me.

"Will, are you okay? The rope managed to get loose before we could pull you back!" Starlight said as they approached me.

"Y-y-yeah… I-I'm f-f-f-fine." I said, fighting with all my will to hold back my tears in front of my friends.

"Will… that looked, painful. Are you sure you don't wanna-" Star began before I cut her off.

"Look, I was told to get the Crystal Heart, and I got the Crystal Heart. Nothing else needs to be said, and nobody else needs to know anything but that." I said, picking up the crystal as I walked out of the room that had brought me such emotional pain.

Soon after I heard the hooves of the other two follow behind as we left. To say the walk was quiet would have been an understatement: It seemed as if the entire world had become silent. As we entered the safe house everything immediately stopped as all eyes turned to me once again, only this time it was quickly followed by several ponies running up to me and asking me to lay down and what had happened and how I was feeling.

"Guys, I think Will would really appreciate some alone time right now." Dark spoke up, which everypony acknowledged quickly and left me alone.

"Dark, take the Crystal Heart to the Commander, I'll take care of Will." Starlight said.

With that she lead me into a bedroom where I had been staying in the house for the past couple of days. "Will, I know you might not wanna talk about this, and you don't have to, but… what exactly did you see in there?" Star asked, causing me to let out a very disappointed sigh. "You really wanna know?" I asked, to which she nodded. "Alright, go see if anyone else wants to hear," I said. "But warn them it might be a bit dark." I finished.

Once again she nodded before leaving the room to get the others. Soon she came back with everypony in the Squad, even the Commander. "So you guys are sure you wanna hear this?" I asked, receiving several nods of approval. "Alright… If you say so..."


	4. Chapter 4

Hey everybody. Sorry I haven't updated in a while but my life is kinda crazy right now. This will also be a fairly short chapter for that same reason, but do not worry I WILL NOT ABANDON THIS STORY. I plan on updating it until the day I die or something terrible happens and I am forced to stop. Anyways, here you go.

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This chapter is a series of flashback in the beginning.

It was early in the morning in the colony, and William was drifting briefly between the lines of sleep and awakening, but his delicate state was brought to an abrupt, and sudden ending as he heard a shriek of horror. William's head sprung up in the blink of an eye, only for him to throw himself back to the bed as he began choking. As his eyes properly adjusted he saw that his room was filling with smoke.

After he was able to process what was happening, he sprang from his bed, being sure to stay below the death-black smoke that was engulfing the inside of the room. He made his way down the hallway, doing his best to avoid burning debris. As he rounded a corner to the living room he saw the hallway to the door was blocked, and as he made this realization the house began to creak and shake seemingly in pain. As walls began to crumble around him he panicked, and charged towards the only thing he could think of: a small stain-glass window about 1' by 1' in size. He sprinted towards it and dove through the window which then shattered into countless miniature pieces which all did their part in slicing up his skin, in some locations going straight through his clothing and skin and into his muscle.

One such piece awarded him with a long, repulsive scar trailing down from his right shoulder-blade to his left hip; a scar that he would carry with him for the rest of his life. As he landed painfully upon the unforgiving ground he felt extreme pain as the many shards of razor-sharp glass were forced deeper into his flesh from the impact. After a few moments of disbelief and confusion, as well as pain and despair, he forced himself up, despite every fiber of his being screaming and fighting against him. As he walked around his house a grim realization overcame him: where were his Parents? He began quickening his pace as much as he could with his severe injuries, and within a minute he was rounding the corner of his home, and what he witnessed next would change him forever.

As William rounded the corner he saw as his parents, both of whom were bawling, embrace in what would be their final embrace as they kissed each other before rushing into the burning building in a futile attempt to save their son. William began running towards the direction they had went only for moments later the entire building collapsed in one sweeping motion. William immediately fell to his knees, his mind cracking from the brief yet overwhelming amount of both physical and emotional pain he had just gone through.

After the fire was extinguished, a fireman approached him with a grim expression plastered on his face. He kneeled down next to the boy who he had to inform had just lost both of his parents. "Son… Look, there's no easy way to say this.." He began. "They're dead aren't they." William spoke bluntly, with empty eyes and a face so disturbingly blank that even Discord himself would have been fearful. "Son-" The fireman attempted, only to be cut off. "Don't. Call me that!" He screamed, causing the fireman to wince. "Look kid, I'm sorry. More sorry than you can possibly imagine. I don't know why this happened, but you can't let it shape you: Be strong. I know it is tough, and I'm not saying don't be sad, but don't let people, including yourself, use those emotions to get you to do things you wouldn't normally do." The fireman said, hoping to in the very least help the boy stay out of trouble. And William has followed those words throughout his entire life.

-Time Jump-

It was a cold winter day, and William was in what quickly came to be one of his favorite places after the loss of his parents. It wasn't anything special to most: just an old forest, with very little life in it, be it animals, or vegetation, which makes what happened that day all the more amazing. As William walked down a path he had come to know well, along with the rest of the forest which he knew like the back of his hand, until suddenly he felt the very earth beneath him tremble, as if frightened by something. Will, being very deep in thought and concentration, failed to notice the odd movement that was occurring beneath his feet, and continued on.

After a few short minutes of walking the shaking became un-ignorable, and caused Will to become both fascinated, and fearful by whatever was causing it. As was with most things, his curiosity won out in his mental battle, and he continued walking, hoping to find the source of the trembling. Not long after he had become fascinated by the shaking had his question as to the cause had been answered, though much to his fear and dismay. As William walked down the path what else but an Ursa Minor makes it's way onto the path, and quickly notices the potential meal.

William had heard about Ursa's and Ursa Minor's, but this was his first time seeing either in real life. He was shocked by the beauty of the creature, but was not given much time to bask in it's glory as it quickly began charging him. In a swift move he dove to the left, narrowly avoiding the creature's massive clawed paw. William continued dodging the relentless attacks, but was quickly tired due to the seemingly never-ending barrage. After 15 minutes or so of evading the attacks of the behemoth creature, he realized that over time he had been subconsciously moving towards the colony, and was a good 100 ft. from the front entrance. In a brilliant combination of stupidity and sudden emboldenment, he darted towards the massive doorway screaming for help. He didn't get far, though, before his side was met with an enormous paw swipe, permanently scarring his left torso, adding to his tragic collection.

Luckily, his cries for help had not fallen upon deaf ears: a patrol guard had hear his calls and upon seeing the beast, called for the Anti-Ursa Ballisti, or AU for short. Just as William was about to be brutally and violently grinded and sliced between the jaws of the hungry Ursa Minor, it froze, mere inches from him and fell to the ground, frozen. As a traumatized William gazed around the beast he saw the massive AU Ballista, and followed its trajectory straight into the side of the Ursa Minor, killing it.

-Another Time Jump because this segway would be hard-

It was early December, and the new year had just started a few days previous. The town was still cleaning up from the massive celebration that occurred every year. Everyone was jolly and hopeful to fulfil their New Year Resolutions, but not all of them, sadly, were good. In a house located on the same block as William's old home, his best friend Billy, who had always had a horrific life: with a constantly drunk and abusive father, and a depressed pill-popping mother, top it off with a mentally unstable evil step-sister and tie it all together with a small, pitiful house with no food and you have Billy's home life, which as terrible as it was, was not nearly half as bad as his school life.

Due to Billy's poor family, Billy had to work for the school, while attending it, causing his grades to drop dramatically. He also sold homemade 'Friendship Bracelets' which consisted of pipe-cleaners and various plastic beads that rarely sold, yet he did it anyways: anything to make a buck. Billy's situation also meant he had very little in the way of accessories: school supplies, moderate clothing, proper hygiene, things that you and I take for granted.

"Billy… You don't gotta do this man!" I called out to him. He had been really weird at High School that day: I guess someone just pushed him a little too far, so when I went over to his house that day after school I found him in his backyard with a loaded gun pointed straight at his head, crying. Something about Billy's cry was just… Sad. Not in the way that all crying is, but sad on a whole new level: This guy, who had gone through so much, and was so strong through it all. Who took care of his entire family, and put up with being the laughing stock of the school, with next to no friends other than myself and a few select others, and no matter what happened never asked for, or even expected pity, and never cried, or lashed out, and was easily the kindest person I had ever met, was there in front of me, about to end his entire life.

It was just Sad. No other way to put it. And, despite all of my pleading, and begging, he did it. He pulled the trigger, and blew his brains out all across the yard… right in front of me… Later that week his step-sister was institutionalized, his mother overdosed, and his dad had a heart attack, and after that, the house was taken down and rebuilt, new people moved in, and all evidence of Billy was wiped from the world, other than a little plaque the town donated for him and his family. Just like that.

-Back to current time-

There wasn't a dry eye in the room as I finished my story, and the floor was completely covered in a pool of tears, including my own. "Will… I am so so so so so sorry." Star said, as several others nodded in agreement.

"Nopony should have to live a life like that." Dark stated, as there were more nods among the crowd.

After that it was just silent, until the silence in the air became suffocating. "... So… what are we doing with that Crystal Heart?" I asked, causing the Commander to clear his throat.

"We'll be placing it in a decoy room, somewhere the elements will have an easier time getting to and have an easier time obtaining it." He responded.

"Alright, well we better go get it in place." I said standing up, only to be forced down by Star's magical grasp.

"Wooah, you aren't going anywhere. After going through what you just described in that room, you deserve a break. And I know I'm not the only one who thinks so." She said, earning a statement from everypony.

"Guys really, it wasn't that bad the second time-" I was cut off as my lips were sealed by magic and I was then forced down into a bed and hit in the head by something heavy and was knocked out.

Eventually I awoke, admittedly with a slight headache, and made my way out of bed and into the main room. Nopony seemed to be there, but there was a note on a table. 'Will, we fear something is going to happen soon. We have reason to believe it may be big, so the whole team is going. Enjoy your rest, and wait for us to return. - Star -P.S. sorry about knocking you out.' I read, disappointed that they had left me behind.

As I went to open the window I saw that the sky had an eerie look to it, and there seemed to be some kind of commotion going on at the Crystal Empire as I learned it was called. In a moment of panic I slung my rifle over my shoulder and made my way out the door, dead set on seeing what was going on. After a few minutes of walking I entered the area where the Crystal Heart was supposed to be left for the girls, and noticed it was still there, oddly enough. I walked over to a nearby window and saw outside what appeared to be a festival. After a few moments I heard someone coming down the hall towards the room, so I hid. Soon, Twilight and Spike entered the room, but as soon as they did they were trapped in as a dark cloud entered the room. The dark cloud took shape of a large ominous looking unicorn, who then had a confrontation with Twilight about some stuff I didn't even try to understand, before Twilight grabbed the Crystal Heart and gave it to Spike, who made his way out the window and began climbing down before he slipped and began falling.

I was prepared to leap from my hiding spot in the rafters and jump after the little guy, but fortunately a White Unicorn I recognized as Twilight's brother thanks to my network, and a pink Alicorn who I hadn't the slightest clue who she was saved him. After that Twilight and the ominous unicorn left the room, allowing me to cautiously leave my hiding place and return to the window. As I looked out I realized I could see many of the squad members hiding around the castle and buildings. I did my best to signal them, but they were too focused on the task at hand, so I gave up and went back to watching things unfold.

After a while Twilight and the other Unicorn, whose name is Sombra if the gasps of the ponies when he appeared were any hint started talking. Twilight and the girls began talking with Sombra, but I couldn't make out what they were saying as they were too far away. Eventually, Sombra looked like he was about to let loose a very powerful attack while the girls, who all for some reason became equipped with some fancy looking jewelry were preparing what appeared to be an equally powerful attack. By the looks of it though Sombra was faster to charge his, and was about to launch it at the girls but in an act of adrenaline I lifted my rifle from my shoulder, lined up the shot, and nailed Sombra directly on the tip of his horn, causing him to for a second lose all concentration and look utterly confused and terrified for a brief moment before the girls all let loose a literal rainbow of goodness that appeared to cause Sombra to vanish, as well as everypony, myself included, took on what can only be described as crystalline form.

As this happened, I noticed that the sun, which was now visible, was reflecting off of my crystal self into Star's eyes, which brought her attention towards me. When she spotted me, the look on her face was pure comical genius, as she had an extreme mix of shock and awe, as well as joy, and excitement, and even a little anger, all blended randomly on her petrified face. After that, I saw many of the squad members begin to leave their locations, and so I headed back as well, hoping to get there first and have enough time to make up a story as to what I had done so that no one would know I had left. I didn't know why I didn't want to be found out, but I just didn't.

I decided to sprint most of the way back to the bunker, and luckily made it there before anypony else. After a few minutes ponies started showing up, to which I initially put on my best surprised face and began asking questions that I either knew the answer too or didn't care about, as well as pretending to be upset they didn't wake me up to join them. After everypony was back, we started cleaning up our stuff in order to go back to Canterlot.

"Hey Will." Star approached me with a suspicious tone.

"He Star, what's up?" I asked.

"Not much. So, how was your day?" She questioned.

"Pretty uneventful. Just layed around, you know, being lazy." I said with my best poker face on.

"Mhm, so anyways, what were you doing in that tower?" She asked, causing me to briefly pause my packing, but I quickly recovered, but by then it was too late.

"Aha! I knew I saw you!" She exclaimed.

"I don't know what you're talking about, but I've been here all day." I said.

"Oh just admit it! You were at the festival! You're the one that nicked off of part of Sombra's horn aren't you!" She spoke.

"Alright, it was me. So?" I asked quietly.

"Why don't you want other people to know?" She asked.

"I don't know, I just don't." I replied, which seemed to confuse her more than she already was, but our conversation was thankfully cut short by a unicorn who approached us.

"Will, I have orders to teleport you back to PonyVille to make sure you get there before the Elements do." He said.

"Alright then, sorry Star but I guess I have to go. Later." I spoke quickly before signalling the unicorn to teleport me.

After what could have been hours or seconds I appeared inside the Library in PonyVille. "Well, that was one hell of a first mission." I said, sitting down on a couch only to realize how much work needed to be done around the Library since I had been gone. "Well, looks like I still have some work to do." I said, standing from my spot and starting to clean.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys, sorry about the big gap between this update and the last one, but my life is kinda crazy right now. Anyways, I tried to make a longer, more interesting chapter to make up for it, so this is it. Also if you have an OC you'd like to see in this story, or just somepony you want to see in this story, just shoot my a pm. Alright, hope you guys enjoy.**

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"Will! We're home!" Twilight called as she entered the Library, followed by the rest of the girls and Spike.

"Hey, how was your guys' trip?" I asked as I got up from my spot on the couch where I was reading a book.

"It was Awesome!" Rainbow exclaimed, as everypony else gave an equally enthusiastic agreement.

"Sounds like I missed out on quite an adventure." I said.

"You have no idea!" Spike said.

"How about we all have a slumber party and tell Will about what happened girls?" Twilight asked, and was answered by a series of approving and excited nods.

After that the girls all went off to their homes and grabbed their sleeping bags. Once they all returned they placed their sleeping bags down in a circle facing each other. I was laying between Twilight and Applejack, but since I didn't have a sleeping bag Twilight brought down a bunch of pillows for me to lay on. The girls were all talking about their time in the Crystal Empire, while I droned through it and nodded my head occasionally, knowing most of what had happened. Luckily for me the girls didn't seem to find anything suspicious about their trip, other than one thing.

"Hey did you guys notice that right before Sombra was about to cast a spell at the end of our trip he all of a sudden looked really scared?" Pinkie Pie asked, causing me to tense up.

"Ya know now that ya mention it, yeah, I did." Applejack agreed.

"He was probably just scared because he knew he was about to be beaten by us!" Rainbow said before flying through the air and performing a few tricks.

"No, I saw it too. It was almost like he had seen a ghost." Twilight added, causing all the girls to develop concentrated faces on their faces as they thought back to the occurrence.

"Well, who knows it could have been anything, right?" I asked as coolly as possible, hoping to get their minds off the topic.

"Yeah, I... guess you're right." Twilight said as the girls all seemed to come back to reality, though Applejack gave me an odd look for a fraction of a second before seemingly letting go of whatever thought she was holding back on sharing.

After that it got fairly boring, until Pinkie Pie seemed to have an amazing idea as she jumped so high she nearly touched the ceiling. "Ooooh ooooh oooh! We should play," She paused as she bounded over to the lightswitch "Truth, or Dare!" She said in a mock ominous tone before turning the lights on and off repeatedly.

"Oh yeah! I mean, unless you're too chicken, Will." Rainbow said as she flew up to my face and gave me an adorable challenging face that I couldn't say no to.

"Alright, I guess. How bad could it get." I said, earning a devious glare from rainbow, and a few worried ones from the others.

"It. Is. On." Rainbow finished.

For the next hour or so we played truth or dare. It started out all pretty harmless, until Applejack got a turn and must have remembered something as she looked at me, somewhat ominously if I might add.

"Will, truth or dare?" She asked.

"Truth." I responded, and for a minute or so appeared to be thinking very hard, until Rainbow derailed her train of thought.

"Oh, come on AJ, spit it out." Rainbow whined.

"Alright, Ah suppose. Will, why did you get all fidgety when we started talking 'bout Sombra earlier?" She asked, causing all eyes to fall upon me, as I began to get slightly nervous, which must have been apparent as their looks grew more curious by the second.

After a quick moment to steel myself and form a half-assed story just in case, I spoke. "What do you mean?" I asked.

"You seemed awfully nervous when we got to wonderin' what it was that done scared him so bad near the end of our trip, why is that?" She asked.

"I don't know what you're talking about." I responded, doing my best to calm down.

"Don't you try an' lie to me, I'm the Element of Honesty." She said.

"I'm not lyin-" I started, only to be cut off.

"Yes you are, don' try and deny it!" Applejack interrupted me. "Now spit it out!" She ordered.

At this point I had no idea what to do. I knew she would catch me if I tried to lie, but I couldn't tell the truth could I? Wait… Could I? I mean I never really was told that I couldn't let them know… But they did say our job was to stay out of sight all the time. 'Hmmm… I guess it couldn't hurt too bad to give them a little something now, and ask the Princesses about it later." I thought to myself.

"Alright fine, if you must know I went on my first mission-" I began before being interrupted once again.

"Oh man really?! Awesome! What did you do, break into buildings, take down the bad guys, and-" Rainbow cheered before realizing that the other girls were glaring at her for interrupting. "Sorry, Will." She said, looking at the floorboards beneath her feet.

"It's fine Rainbow." I said. "Anyways, to sum it up I might have had to do some things involving Sombra." I finished, causing all the girls to gasp.

"What?! What did you do?! Why didn't you tell us?! What happened?!" The girls began questioning.

"Look, I can explain everything but first, Look! A distraction!" I exclaimed, pointing in a random direction.

As soon as I said it everypony looked to where I had pointed as I sprung from my spot and ran from the Library. I started running to where I heard my house was being built, and asked one of the unicorns working on it to send a letter to Princess Celestia for a Royal Carriage asap. Within about fifteen minutes of hiding from the girls a carriage flew down in front of the construction sight and I hopped in. After I made it to the castle I was escorted into a room with nice mahogany walls, which were lined with bookshelves, pictures of eloquent art, various random cabinets with flowers in vases above them, and so on. There was also a cobblestone fireplace on the other side of the room that appeared to be the only light source, though it easily gave off enough light to provide for the entire room. Overall the only way to truly describe the room was Cozy. In the middle of the room there was two large luxurious looking sofas, each with a princess on it, and across from them to complete the triangle of furniture was a single, human sized arm-chair.

"Wow, you two must have really dug around in storage for this sucker, huh?" I spoke more as an observation than an actual question.

"So Will, why did you wish to meet us here?" Celestia asked, clearly not thrilled to be in my presence.

"Oh Sister. Please forgive her Will, she's just tired from having to work so much with all the Crystal Empire news about." Luna chimed in.

"Right, so about that. Would it be okay if I told the girls?" I asked, causing both Princesses to look at each other, as if telepathically debating it.

After a moment of their seemingly wordless conversation Luna turned to me. "Well, we don't see a reason why not to, just perhaps keep out some of the… less civilized, things you partake in?" She finished.

"Alright, I can do that. Thanks guys." I said, standing and preparing to leave the room until a certain unicorn came in.

"You!" Star spoke loudly and suddenly, startling the princesses slightly.

"What is wrong Starlight?" Celestia questioned.

"Princesses, Will is the one who took Sombra down!" Star said, causing both princesses to become shocked.

"He did?" They both responded.

"Yes! And I have proof!" She said, levitating a little shard of something over to the princesses, who after a moment of closely examining the shard gasped.

"This is part of a unicorn horn!" Luna spoke, somewhat disgustedly as a unicorn's horn was one of it's most sensitive bones, and that breaking one was known to cause unimaginable pain.

"Yes, it's Sombra's horn! Will shot it off before Sombra could cast his spell to kill the Elements." Star spoke.

"Well, then I suppose we shall have to award you somehow Will. Perhaps a medal?" Princess Luna said, causing a somewhat pained expression to cover my face.

"Nah, that won't be necessary." I said, hoping that they would decide not to do anything.

"Well why not?" Celestia added.

"Oh, I just don't think I deserve it." I said.

"Don't deserve it! You were the one who went through Sombra's cursed room to get the Crystal Heart!" Star said, causing both Celestia and Luna to flinch slightly.

"Yes, we did hear about that part from your Commander… Will if there is ever anything you need," Luna began.

"It was nothing, really." I said, doing my best to fight back the images of the horrific events I had hoped were long buried resurface in my mind.

"Well we must do something." Celestia spoke up.

"Hmmm. Oh… Celestia, may I see the horn shard?" Luna asked, as her sister passed her the shard. "Oh yes, this should do. I think I have the perfect reward for you." Luna said, walking out of the room while still eyeing the shard.

Eventually she came back with a book entitled The Transformation And Transportation of Magic. She started flipping through pages until she found the one she seemed to be looking for

"Ah, here it is… The Magic Infusion spell. This spell used to be used to imbue objects with magical properties, but it quickly was forgotten because it took a large portion of magic from something else, such as a magical artifact, or previously enchanted item. But there was an easier magical item that can be used, if acquired." Luna began as Celestia and Star went over to examine the spell.

"So what does that have to do with anything?" I asked, as all three of them nodded at each other.

"Will, I believe that, if properly modified, this spell along with this unicorn horn shard, could grant you the ability to use magic." Luna explained excitedly.

"Man that would be awesome wouldn't it Will? You and I could practice some combat spells together." Star said.

"What do you say Will." Celestia asked.

"Well, why not. Might put me at an even playing field with some of the other magical creatures out there." I said.

"Alright, Celestia, shall we?" Luna said. The two began focusing very hard, if looks are anything to go by, as the horn shard began glowing as it floated over to me. Once it got within arms reach I felt compelled to grab it, and I did. As soon as I held it in my hand my entire arm felt like it was on fire! I screamed in pain as I watched as, much to everyone in the rooms horror, red streaks began shooting up my arm in odd patterns. After what felt like eternity the burning pain cooled down, much to my relief. As I regained my composure I looked down at my arm, which now had a series of red streaks tattooed onto it that seemed to glow ever so slightly. After a moment I realized a lack of lump in my hand and when I opened it the shard was gone.

"Well… It… worked... " Celestia panted.

"It… Appears… So…" They said.

"Princesses, you need some rest." A few guards who I assume ran in when I started screaming spoke.

"That, would be, nice." Celestia spoke as the two were escorted out of the room on shaky legs.

"So Will, how do you feel?" Star asked.

That was the first time I noticed it: I felt amazing. I felt as if I had enough energy to sprint the entire distance of Equestria and not be winded. "I feel… Good… Really good." I said, closing my eyes I felt weightless.

"Woah, Will, how are you doing that?!" Star exclaimed sounding thrilled.

As I opened my eyes I looked down and realized why I felt so light. The lower half of my body was nothing but a black cloud. For a second I freaked out, but then I realized I could still feel my legs. "I have no idea." I finally answered.

"Well try moving man." She encouraged.

I tried moving my legs but no matter what I did I wouldn't budge. After a while I gave up moving my legs, feeling a little hopeless, I just wished I would move, and then, as I begged myself to move, I felt wind brush against my face. When I opened my eyes again I was floating in the middle of the room.

"Woah man, I wonder if this is part of the spell." I said.

"No man, I bet it's because that's how Sombra used to move around most of the time." Star said.

"Oh, that makes way more sense." I admitted, willing myself to fly down to her.

After I made it to a safe distance off the ground I willed my legs back, and the amount of relief I felt when I felt my feet hit the ground was indescribable. "Man Star you have gotta teach me some sweet spells." I said.

"Totally man. I wonder what color your aura will be." She said, raising my curiosity with her.

"Let's find out. How do I levitate stuff?" I asked.

"Well it's kind of tricky at first, you have to picture what you want to move, and where it is, and then picture it moving inside your mind to where you want it to go in real life." She explained.

It took me a couple times, but soon enough I was 'Levitating things like a pro'. Happy with my newfound abilities, I decided to go and thank the Princesses. after a while of floating throughout the castle as was Star described as 'A shadowy cloud', I found them in the throne room eating breakfast. The reactions on their faces when I floated into the room and materialized in front of their faces was priceless.

"Will, how did you do that?" Celestia asked.

"Well I'm not entirely sure, but Starlight thinks it's because this is how Sombra used to move around a lot, and since I absorbed his horn, I inherited the ability to do it too." I explained.

"Ahh, I see. Well, it does make sense." She admitted.

"So, would you like a carriage home now?" Luna asked.

"Nah, I think I'll float home. It's such a cool experience, it's like I'm there, but I'm also somewhere else at the same time, a million times over." I spoke happily. "Anyways, I just wanted to tell you guys thank you, so much." I said. "Oh, so how am I supposed to explain this to the girls?" I asked, causing the princesses to giggle slightly, most likely to my nickname of the Elements of Harmony.

"Just tell them the truth." Celestia said.

"But you guys said to leave out the bad stuff, and I think shooting off a part of a unicorns horn is pretty bad." I said, to which Luna replied. "Will, she said tell them the truth, she never said tell them the whole truth." at which she winked at me.

"Alright I guess. Well, I guess I'm gonna head out. Bye guys." I said, turning completely into the shadowy mist and floating through the castle until I hit the entrance.

It took me about 20 minutes to get to Ponyville by floating, and once I got there I remembered something.

"Shit!" I thought to myself "Do I have work today?!"" I thought, floating off towards Sweet Apple Acres as fast as I could.

Once I got there I was happy to see Applejack, Big Mac, Applebloom, and even Granny Smith out front of the house just soaking up the sun. I decided I might as well join them, and maybe explain what happened the last night to Applejack. I decided to float down a ways on the road and re-form and then walk up to the house, rather than risk giving Granny Smith a heart attack.

"Hey, what's up?" I called as I walked up to the group. Just like the first time we met Applebloom blushed when she saw me, which reminded me I still need to ask her about. But for the meantime, my mind was set on Applejack, who immediately marched towards me angrily.

"You sure 'ave got some explaining to do!" She lectured.

"I know, I'm sorry, it was just kinda a touchy topic at the moment when you brought it up. But, I can say that I will tell you now." I said, instantly lightening her mood at least slightly.

"Well, I guess I can kinda understan' where y'all was comin' from." She said.

"Thanks, anyways is there a way you can get the girls here? I've got some things to show everypony after I explain about last night." I said. "Well sure, watch this. RAAAAAAAIIIINNNBOOOOOOWWWW" Applejack hollered so loud my ears were ringing for a minute after. Or at least that's what I thought, but it turned out to be Rainbow's scream as she flew through the air and landed in a tree slightly to our left with an audible thud.

"What's up Appleja-Will! You have got some explaining to do!" She said.

"I know, but I'm gonna explain it to everyone, so can you go round 'em all up?" I asked.

"Well, I guess. But it better be good." She said before darting off in the direction of the town.

After that the girls started showing up one by one, with the last one to show up being Rarity, who brought her little sister Sweetie Belle and her best friend Scootaloo. "Alright girls, I know that I owe you all an explanation, and here it is. As you know, I was kind of recruited into the army. Anyways, I was put in a special unit that is dedicated to helping you guys out." I began, earning a disbelieving huff and smirk from Rainbow, who stopped when she was nudged by Applejack, informing her that I was indeed telling the truth.

"Wait, there's a special unit designated to helping us?" Rainbow asked, to which I nodded.

"Well you guys have been doing a terrible job then. I mean Twilight and Spike had to go through a cursed room to get that stupid Crystal Heart thing, couldn't you guys have done something about that." She started, only for my pained expression at the mention of it to cause her to stop.

"Yeah… We did do something about that…" I said. "What's that supposed to mean?" Twilight asked.

"Well the one you guys had to go through was a bit less… hardcore, as the original one." I said.

"How would you know?" Rainbow asked, sounding genuinely curious.

"Well, because I was the one who got through it." I said with a sad tone, causing every ponies ears to flatten against their heads slightly in fear of what I went through.

"What was it like?" Applebloom asked.

"Oh, it wasn't too bad. There's not a lot that scares me." I said, tussling her mane a little bit, causing her to smile, while the older girls all frowned, catching the other side of what I just implied: Not a lot scared me, but what did was pretty bad.

"Why'd you go through?" Applejack asked.

"Well, everypony did, I was just the only one who made it all the way to the Heart." I said. "Anyways, after I got to the heart the curse broke, and some of the unicorns were able to make a weaker version of it for you guys, just to be safe. After that I went home and slept for a few days, but then one day when I woke up everypony was gone. Turns out they heard that something was gonna happen and so they all went out and started checking out the town. I decided to go check out what was going on, and so I went to the room where the Crystal Heart was."

I decided to be completely honest with the girls if they asked, so I decided to try and get rid of their younger sisters for a little.

"Hey you three, You wanna see something cool?" I asked, causing all three of course to simultaneously nod their heads. "Alright, but first I need you to bring me the biggest, reddest apple you can find, alright?" I said, causing them to all run off giggling and talking to one another.

"Sorry about that, but I do actually want to show you guys something when they get back." I said, causing the girls to all start to look curious. "Anyways, I went to the room where the Crystal Heart was, and I just hung out there for a while, until Twilight and Spike came in the room. Anyways after spike jumped out the window and Twilight and Sombra left the room I got down and started watching what was happened. Eventually I saw you guys going up against each other, and it looked like Sombra was gonna finish his spell first, so I-uh, I did something about it." I said.

"What'd you do?" Applejack asked.

"You sure you wanna know? It's… It's pretty bad." I said.

"Will, tell us." Twilight said, looking at me with reassuring eyes, as did the rest of the girls.

"Well, when I saw he might finish first, I grabbed my rifle and, shot part of his horn off." I said, causing all of the girls to cringe, especially Twilight and Rarity.

"Well, you did it for a good reason, so it can't be that bad." Rainbow said.

"Yeah, you did it to save us." Fluttershy piped in.

Similar comments came from all of the girls, and after that there was a brief silence, that was eventually broken by the girls' sisters coming back with a perfect looking apple if I ever did see one.

"Alright, well girls with what I just told you, a friend of mine picked up the shard and brought it back to Celestia and Luna, and they found some old spell book, and now," I said, rolling off my sleeve to reveal the red marks going up from the palm of my hand to my shoulder. There was a series of gasps.

"Does it hurt?" Fluttershy asked.

"Nah, it's actually something I'm happy I got. Watch this." I said as I began turning various parts of my body into the shadowy mist at a time.

The girls all recognized it as Sombra's, but they still found it interesting never the less. "Yeah, and it gets better." I said, using my levitation to lift the apple from the ground in front of Applebloom and make it orbit around her head. "I can use magic now too." I clarified.

"Will, this is amazing. You just might be one of the first humans to ever use magic." Twilight said excitedly. "Oh there is so much I have to teach you!" She said.

"Alright, I'm game." I said.

"And Rainbow, maybe now we can race sometime?" I asked.

"You bet!" She said enthusiastically.

We went on talking like that for a couple more hours until it was getting late, and we decided to all go home. I slept on the couch of the Apple Family house, thinking to myself how quickly my life had changed so soon out of the colony.

"And the funniest thing is, I wouldn't take back a thing." I mumbled to myself before passing out on the couch.


	6. Chapter 6

**Hey Guys, I'm finally back. I know it's been a long, long time since I updated, and I really have no excuses other than what can only be described as severe writers block. Also, I re-read my story (Looking for someplace to take it) and realized I never said how much Will gets payed, and decided that 2,000 bits a month sounds good. That's it for now. Hope you all enjoy. (Also I do enjoy reviews and pm's, especially OC's for the story)**

* * *

I woke up in the morning feeling better than I had in a long, long time. Sitting up from the couch, I began stretching my arms until I heard somepony coming down the stairs.

"Good morning." I said, startling Applebloom for a moment, as well as causing her to blush.

"G-good mornin' Will." She said, somewhat nervously.

"Hey Applebloom, why do you always blush when you see me?" I asked, causing her to visibly become more nervous, as her previous blush intensified.

"W-what? I don' blush 'round ya." She denied.

"Well then why are you blushing right now?" I retorted.

"Well… Uhh… Oh shoot, well tah be honest it's jus' that, well I'm kinda shy, and it don't help none with you being as big as you is." She said.

"Oh, I get that." I said. "Really?" She asked. "Yeah, I used to be super shy too." I answered.

It was true, I had always been very shy, up until the point when I lost my family to the fire. After that being shy wasn't really an option. People kept coming up to me and letting me know how sorry they were, and I had to talk to some people about where I would stay, and what I would do, so over time my shyness dissipated.

"Hey, don't worry about a thing, I mean you're best friends with Scootaloo and Sweetie Belle from what I hear, right? You'll get passed it, don't worry." I said, which caused her to brighten up at least slightly.

"Thanks Will." She said before heading into the kitchen.

After that little conversation, I decided to go over to Twilight's and start learning cool stuff to do with my powers. I turned myself into my new dark mist form and started floating towards Twilight's, but as I left the farm I began to hear a voice in my head.

"Oooh, Sombra, what are you doing in Ponyville?" It spoke.

'This isn't Sombra.' I thought back.

There was a moment of silence before it responded. "I see… Well then, who are you?" It asked.

'I could ask you the same thing.' I said.

"Oh I see how it is. Fine. My name is Discord, perhaps you've heard of me?" He said.

Now it was my turn to be silent for a moment. 'Yeah, you could say I've heard of you.' I eventually responded.

"So what did you do to Sombra?" He asked.

"Nothing compared to what I'll do to you if you hurt the girls." I threatened.

"Woah there, no need to be so hostile. What have I ever done to you?" He asked.

Once again I was silent. 'Fair enough. So what do you want?" I asked.

"I don't know honestly. Oh, I have an idea that I think will be fun for both of us." He said sounding very excited, which made me nervous.

'Yeah, what's that?' I questioned.

"Oh don't sound so skeptical. How about this, you get Celestia and Luna to agree to meet with me, and I will owe you one." He said.

'So I get myself killed and you'll 'Owe me one'? No thanks.' I said.

"Oh I don't think you understand what it means for me to owe you something. Anything you need, or want, will be yours. I say, this deal would be most beneficial to yourself." He said.

About this time I arrived at the Library. "Well, what do you say? Just send Celestia and Luna a letter via the little dragon that lives here, that's all I ask." He said.

'Ugh… So all I have to do is send a letter?' I asked.

"That's it." He responded. 'Fine. But you owe me two if they say yes then. One for the letter, and another for them agreeing to meet you.' I said.

"Oh you're good. Fine. I will owe you two if they say yes." He said.

'Alright. But I don't think I can keep up a conversation with you while I'm learning here, so you have to go for now.' I said.

"Awww… Fine, I suppose. It was a pleasure doing business with you." He finished.

I didn't reply, but I felt him leave my head shortly after. As I approached I knocked on the Library door. "Coming!" Twilight called, before answering the door. "Oh hey Will! Come by to learn some spells?" She asked.

"Yeah, but first could you send a letter to the Princesses for me?" I asked.

"Well sure. SPII-IIKE!" She called. I went over to a nearby desk with a quill and paper and wrote up a letter about a meeting with Discord and had Twilight send it through Spike.

"So what was the letter about?" Twilight asked.

"Oh, just a little check in about my new powers and whatnot." I replied, which wasn't entirely a lie as I did write them about how my powers were doing in the letter.

"Alright, well let's get started!" She said excitedly.

After we had gotten through a couple books of spells I received a letter from the Princesses via Spike. "What does it say Will?" Twilight asked.

"It says that they are happy to hear my powers are coming along well, and that they want me at the castle to give a little demonstration." I said, when in reality it was them asking, quite rudely, if I had lost my mind or if I ever had one, and that they wanted me at the castle to explain my letter as soon as possible.

"Well, I guess we'll have to cut this lesson short. Bye Will. Good luck impressing the Princesses." Twilight said as I headed out the door and began floating towards the castle.

-Time Jump-

"You can't possibly seriously expect us to have a discussion with him." Celestia said after their bout of laughter finally ended.

After I had arrived at the castle I was escorted into the same room that I was confronted about my 'assaulting a guard'. Once I entered the room Celestia asked me to repeat the question I had written to them about, and after I did they both burst into laughter. It was so loud and sudden, actually, that some of the guards came in looking worried until they saw that the Princesses were just laughing.

"I'm serious Princesses." I said eventually.

"What even made you ask such a question?" They asked, suddenly deciding to take things seriously.

"He just kinda asked me to do it in my head, and so I did." I said.

"He contacted you?!" They both said at once.

"Yeah, apparently he thought I was Sombra since I was floating around." I said.

"Wait, so he just asked you to arrange a meeting and you just did?" Luna asked.

"Well I wasn't going to, but then he said that he would owe me one, and having favors to pull is never a bad thing." I said, causing them to both gasp slightly.

"He owes you a favor?" Celestia asked.

"That is what I just said, yeah." I said.

"Will this is big. The last time Discord 'owed someone a favor', they died a horrible death. Be very specific with what you ask for, and make sure it counts. Despite his naive behavior, he is very powerful, and will be able to do pretty much anything you ask." Celestia said.

"They're right you know." Discord spoke, causing everyone in the room to jump and look around.

"Show yourself, Discord." Luna said with venom in her words.

"Does that mean you agree to talk with me?" He asked.

"... For the time being, yes." Celestia answered.

"That makes it two favors now Discord." I said.

"Ugh. I know, I know." He said, appearing behind the princesses and making funny faces at them briefly before making his way in front of them. "M'ladies" He spoke, bowing as a top hat appeared in his hand.

"Discord." They both said in response, each with gallons of venom dripping off of their words. "Feel free to leave William." Celestia said.

"Don't mind if I do." I said, getting up from my seat and quickly leaving the scene that with every second made me question whether or not it was a good idea to ask for such a meeting to occur.

"Well, I guess if everything goes to hell I can just call in one of my favors and undo it all, if He's as powerful as everyone seems to think." I thought, as I started to make my way down to my barracks to say hello to everypony, since I was already in the castle.

"Hey guys, what's up?" I asked as I entered the barracks.

"Will!" Everyone called.

"Hey man, how's the arm?" Star said, walking up to me.

"Pretty awesome. Twilight's teaching me some new spells, but they're mainly healing ones and stuff. Think you could slip me a book with some combat spells?" I asked.

"No problem, what type?" She said walking over to a bookshelf. "combat." I restated.

"No, like which kind of combat spells. Any favored elements, or traits or anything like that you want?" She rephrased.

"Ummm, something fast and dark." I said.

"Ooooh, nice choice." She replied levitating two books over to me, one titled 'Dark Moons' and another one titled 'Nightmares of Discord'. "I gotta warn you, these have some pretty harmful stuff, so don't practice around anyone or you might end up seriously fucking them up in the head." She said, causing me to chuckle slightly before her serious stare made me realize how important it was I be alone to practice.

"Alright, I can train over in the Everfree." I said. "Good spot, just be careful. The Everfree is a dangerous place, even to the strongest of warriors." She said.

"Got it. Thanks Star, see ya around." I said, leaving.

By the time I got back to Ponyville it was dark out: I decided to walk once I got far enough away from Canterlot so that I could practice some of the spells on the way. Since I wasn't too tired when I got into town I decided to check out my future house and see how things were coming along. As I approached the construction site I saw that it seemed mostly complete. The construction crew was still their working, despite the time. I walked up to one. "Hey, this looks almost done, but the Princesses told me it would take a bit longer to complete. Is there something I'm missing?" I asked.

"Well, it's not every day Princess Celestia asks your company to build a house for a 'very important client', so me and the boys have been working nights to finish faster." He said.

"Well I appreciate that. I'll have to make sure to give you a bit extra for finishing ahead of schedule." I said, causing his eyes to grow slightly wide.

"You're the important client?" He asked.

"Yeah, why?" I questioned.

"Just… surprised is all… I guess that explains why everything is so big." He said.

"Alright, well when can I expect it to be done?" I asked.

"Well if we work through the night and get a few more guys down here we can probably finish tomorrow if you'd like, otherwise it'd take about two days." He said.

"It'd be awesome if it could be done by tomorrow, and I'll make sure to throw in a big bonus." I said, causing everypony who heard me to start moving a bit faster and more enthusiastically.

"Alright then, see you tomorrow at about six pm?" He asked.

"Sounds great." I agreed.

After that I went back to the farm and fell asleep on the couch, excited to finally be able to sleep in a place of my own. The next morning I was woken up by Applejack at the crack of dawn.

"Up an at 'em" She spoke, opening the blinds to reveal a heavy storm outside. "You're lucky, no work today on account of da storm." She said.

"Ahhh, I love the rain." I said, listening to the repetitive drips and drops upon the roof, sounding like a faroff group of snares batting away at their instruments rapidly.

As she spoke a drop of rain leaked through the roof and landed on her muzzle. "Ah shoot. Looks like I ought'a go patch up the roof." She spoke, rubbing her muzzle where the icey cold rain had dropped.

"Oh no you aren't. I'll head up and do it. Your only job this morning is lookin' pretty." I told her, only slightly jokingly, but I did notice a slight blush under her orange fur.

"Thanks Will. Ah really appreciate it." She said, yawning slightly afterwards. "You sure you wanna go up on the roof in this weather?" She asked again, less as an actual question and just a nicety.

"Sure as I'll ever be." I said. "Go on and get some rest, you sound like you need it." I told her.

"*Yawn* That does sound like a mighty fine idea, but I still gotta git Applebloom ready for school." She replied.

"I'll take care of that." I said.

"You sure Will?" She asked through another long yawn.

"I'm sure." I said.

"Well, alright, but if you need any help you come'n get me, ya hear?" She asked before heading upstairs.

"Oh hey, what time should I wake Applebloom up?" I asked last minute.

"Seven O' Clock. Out tha' door by eight." She finished as she disappeared up the stairs.

Checking my phone I saw that it was only about six, so I decided to get started on the roof. I headed to the barn and grabbed some nails and shingles and then, climbing through the attic window, made my way onto the roof. As I started working I pulled out my phone and started playing one of my personal favorite songs to work to. (It's an actual song called "Hard Work", and is an army marching cadence that I personally love)

With every clap I swung my hammer down, nailing shingle after shingle down over wherever I found a hole that water was leaking into. Despite the fact that there were very few holes, and as such I was only outside for a few minutes, I was completely drenched once I got inside. I decided to take off my shirt, which was soaked the most due to the amount of leaning over I had done on the roof. As I removed my shirt I heard a gasp from the stairs, and turned to see Applebloom who looked like she had just seen a ghost.

"What's wrong Applebloom?" I asked, approaching her. "Y-you're hurt!" She said, running upstairs to get some bandages or something I would assume, but I stopped her before she made it too far.

"I'm fine Applebloom, these are just scars is all. They don't hurt." I said, trying to calm her down, which I succeeded in thankfully.

"H-how'd you get 'em?" She asked. "Alright, you can't tell anyone, but I'm actually a superhero, and I got these scars fighting some evil creatures." I said, trying to make her a bit less upset.

"Did you beat them?" She asked, sounding slightly nervous.

"Yeah, I got 'em, I always do. But listen, you can't tell too many ponies about this, alright?" I said, earning a nod.

"Alright Will!" She said, sounding excited to know a superhero's secret identity.

Since she was up, I helped Applebloom get ready for school and made her a lunch. "This might not be as delicious as your sister's lunches, but I think I did alright." I said, handing her the lunch before we stepped out onto the porch.

"Aww, I hate walkin' in the rain." She said. "Well, I have an idea." I said, grinning at her.

A few minutes later I was standing outside of the elementary school of Ponyville, holding Applebloom with my magic and zooming her around in the air like a plane while I made a little wall hover with her to protect her from the rain.

"That was fun!" Applebloom giggled.

"Yeah, it was." I replied, laughing slightly as well.

"We should do it again sometime." She said.

"How about I come to pick you up from school?" I asked, making her smile wide.

"Yay!" She called.

As she was walked up to the school I was about to leave before I saw two preppy looking fillies walk up to her, and her smile instantly dropped. I assumed they must have been the school bullies, and made my way over to confront them.

"You know why you're a blank flank? Because you aren't good at anything." one of the preppy fillies said to Applebloom, which was all I needed.

I picked her up with my magic as I approached her and floated her up to look me in the eyes, while her friend watched in horror and Applebloom cheered me on, along with two of her friends who had showed up.

"What are you doing?! Put me down! Help! Help! This monster is going to eat me!" She called until the teacher of the school ran over to us, but visibly calmed down a little as she saw me.

"Oh goodness, you're the new pony around town aren't you?" She asked politely.

"Yeah, name's Will." I began.

"Cheerilee." She responded.

"Well it's a pleasure to meet you Mrs. Cheerilee." I said.

"Will, I am obliged to ask, but why are you holding Diamond Tiara?" She asked.

"Well Mrs. Cheerilee, I was walking Applebloom to school, and was about to leave when I heard Tiara here and her friend making fun of her." I said, causing Cheerilee to glare at the two girls.

"Girls, I am very upset. Go wait for me in my office." She said as I put Tiara back down on the floor.

"As for you three, you may head to class." She said, as Applebloom, Scootaloo, and Sweetie Belle all darted for class.

"I assure you Will that these little troublemakers will be punished for their behavior." Cheerilee said as she began walking away.

"Have a good one." I called to her.

"You too." She called back.

After that I decided to head back to the farm to get some money out of my stash as a bonus for the construction crew for my house. I went into the barn and went to the back, opening up a small empty paint bucket filled with stacks of bits. I decided to grab 3,000 bits plus some random spending money, as that seemed like a fairly generous amount considering it was practically a tip.

After that I put the bucket back and just wandered around Ponyville aimlessly for a while. Not many ponies were out due to the weather, but that made it all the more enjoyable. A couple hours, and many Sugarcube Corner cupcakes later, I arrived at my new house, and what a sight it was. It was nothing too spectacular, but it was also amazing. The outside was all wood, with trees and shrubs surrounding it as decoration, as well as vines coming down some of the sides. Through the many windows I could see some of the rooms. It had a full, modern day kitchen, with a cozy log cabin of a living room, complete with a cobblestone fireplace to one side. I quickly became curious of the rest of the house, and found the pony I had talked to the day before.

"Hey." I called to him, catching his attention.

"Hey. You like it?" He asked. "Like it? I love it!" I exclaimed excitedly. "Here's that bonus I talked about." I said, handing him the 3,000 bits, which caused him to smile very wide.

"It's completely renovated. Everything inside is up to date, and brand new." He assured me, handing me the keys.

"Thanks man." I said.

"It was a pleasure doing business with ya." He said, beginning to walk away.

I immediately dashed inside, instantly noticing the amazing hardwood flooring. Going from room to room I found a gargantuan bathroom, and a dining room with 6 pony-sized chairs, and one human sized one for me. Heading up the stairs I found two guest rooms and a master bedroom, with a master bathroom connecting to it. As I dashed through the house I had one thought that kept repeating in my mind.

"It's all my size!" I finally said out loud, diving onto the gigantic master bed.

After some time just admiring everything in my new house I realized that I had no food, and decided to go shopping. While I was shopping I ran into Fluttershy, who was buying food for her animals. "Hey Flutters." I said, spooking the poor mare slightly.

"Oh, hey Will!" She said, sounding excited.

"What's up?" I asked her.

"Well, one of the deer families just had a fawn." She said excitedly

"That's great!" I said.

"So what about you? Anything going on?" She asked.

"Well actually yeah, my house was finished being built today." I said excitedly.

"You have a house?!" Fluttershy asked, somewhat shocked.

"Yeah, it's great. In fact, I have an idea. We should have a sleepover with the girls to celebrate!" I said, wanting to show off my new house as much as possible.

"That sounds like a great idea! I'll get rainbow to tell the others and we'll all meet at your house." She said.

"Alright, see you soon." I said before Fluttershy left to get Rainbow.

I purchased my food and headed home, ecstatic not only about showing off my new house, but also to have a sleepover with the girls.


	7. Chapter 7

It was a beautiful day out. Well, beautiful if you, like me, enjoyed the clouded, stormy weather to that of a sunnier day. I had arrived at my house and just finished storing all of the food I had bought before I heard a knock at the door. I answered it to the amazed faces of the girls, as well as Spike.

"Glad everyone could make it." I said, stepping aside to let everypony in.

"This place is amazing Will!" Said Twilight, which was seconded by everypony else.

"Since when do you own a house?" Asked Rainbow.

"Well the Princesses gave it to me as a bonus." I answered.

"Well this sure is a mighty fine bonus." Commented Applejack.

"I'll say. This house is simply fabulous." Rarity added.

After a brief tour of the house we all settled down in the livingroom, where a game of charades broke out. After a couple hours of random party games had gone by everypony was asleep in the livingroom. I, however, was awoken by somepony poking me while repeatedly saying 'Sir'. As I turned to look, I was surprised to see it was one of Luna's royal guards.

"What is it man?" I asked as I blinked the sleep from my eyes.

"Sir, you have another mission." He said simply.

This grabbed my attention easily enough, I got up, got dressed and grabbed my rifle, and quickly wrote up a note explaining my absence for when the girls woke up, before heading out the door with the guard to the royal chariot waiting outside. Once we arrived at the castle I was rushed to the barracks with Everyone from A Squad, as well as another group I didn't quite know, but I didn't have time to figure out much about them.

"Alright everypony here's the deal," The Commander spoke. "We're heading off to Saddle Arabia. You will be split into sections and spread out throughout country and attempt to gather information on this Stallion." As he finished a picture of a pale gray stallion appeared on the wall.

"His name is Exoptable Vengeance. We have reason to believe he is the leader of one of the largest contraband smuggling exports in the world." Steel Fury spoke as many pictures of illegal drugs, weapons, and even enslaved ponies and other creatures appeared on the screen, causing many ponies in the room to gasp.

"You have fifteen minutes to split yourselves into 7 sections of 3. Your designated areas will be given to you as you board the boat." Steel Fury said before leaving the room.

As soon as he was gone Star, and another mare I didn't know, approached me. "Will, you're with us." Star said, leaving no room for argument even if I had one.

"Will, this is Night Owl, she's the fastest flier in the company." Star introduced me.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." I said, holding my hand out.

She quickly grasped it "The pleasure is all mine, Will. I have heard good things about you." She said, with a comforting smile.

After the time was up for group assigning we all headed to the boat where we were given our designated location. We were given Riyde (Spoof of Riyadh), which as far as I could tell was the largest and most populated state in the country.

"Well, this should be fun." I said sarcastically.

"Oh it'll be alright, you've got us remember?" Night Owl responded.

"Boy this is gonna be a long trip." I said jokingly, earning myself a punch in the shoulder.

Eventually I managed to fall asleep, though I would have rather not, due to a terrible dream. It was me standing in the distance watching the boat go up in flames as it sunk to the bottom of the ocean.

That is until, "Hello Will." Discord spoke.

"What do you want Discord." I questioned venomously

"You ought to cheer up Will, I hear Saddle Arabia is very nice this time of year." He spoke casually. "Have you thought of any favors to ask yet?" He continued.

"I'll use them when I need them. Until then, I am saving them." I explained.

"Well that doesn't seem very fun." He grumbled. "Oh! I have an idea! I will give you one free favor, right now. Just say it and it will happen." He said excitedly.

"Promise me this boat ride won't be boring." I mumbled before catching my mistake, but by the time I tried to fix it he had left my head, leaving only an echoing bout of laughter.

"What have I done." I spoke to myself as I woke up.

"What's that Will?" Asked Star as she must have overheard me.

"Nothing." I responded as calmly as possible. "Well who knows, maybe Discord will throw me a softball." I thought to myself, but I would soon learn this was not the case.

"Hey Will, Night and I are gonna go get some breakfast. Wanna tag along?" Star asked.

"Sure, I'd love to." I replied, getting out of bed and slipping on my shoes.

At that we all left the room together and headed down to the Mess Hall, where everypony was enjoying a breakfast of Hay Sandwiches and Daisy Pancakes. As we went through the line I picked out a few items which seemed edible, but as I ate I quickly realized that it was easily the blandest food I had ever eaten.

"God this taste like sawdust." I spoke after struggling to swallow the nasty food.

"Aww Will, don't be ridiculous. Sawdust has more flavor than this." Night agreed jokingly.

"Think they would let me go fishing off the side of the boat?" I asked, hoping I might be able to score some food for myself.

"If you can get ahold of a fishing pole, I doubt anypony would mind really. I know some ponies who run the boat who fish in their spare time, maybe they could help you out." Star answered.

"Awesome. It's been awhile since I've had anything other than fruits and vegetables." I replied as we all stood up, grabbing our now empty plates.

"So, you eat meat huh? I guess that does explain the teeth." Star wondered aloud as we stacked our plates on the dirty dishes cart.

"Well I'm an omnivore, so technically I can eat anything, but I really do like meat." I explained. "So what are we gonna do now?" I asked as we all stood outside of the Mess Hall.

"I don't know, there's not really much we even can do on this boat." Star said morosely.

As if on key, as soon as she finished we heard someone from above calling over the speakers, "All hands on deck! Get to your battle stations! Prepare to be boarded!"

"Who would be dumb enough to attack a Military boat?!" Night screamed over the rapid clash of hooves on wood as everypony on board, ourselves included, rushed to the deck.

"I don't know, but hopefully they'll realize their mistake and turn tail!" I yelled back.

After we were on the deck we saw where everypony was looking, and saw a boat easily as large as ours about a mile out, and getting closer by the second. Once again, a voice came on over the intercom.

"All unicorn personnel, be prepared to burn that boat down if it gets too close, everypony else get ready to fight!" The voice spoke as Star ran off, to meet up with the rest of the unicorn I assumed.

"I hope you know how to hold your own in a fight, Will, cause with how large that boat is, there is no way our unicorn can burn it down before it gets here." Night told me.

"Well shit, looks like this is gonna be an interesting boat ride after all." I whispered to myself before running towards our room to grab my rifle.

"Will where are you going?!" Night called after me.

"I'm getting some firepower." I yelled back, smirking slightly as I ran off to the room. "They aren't gonna know what hit them." I thought.

As soon as I made it to the room I grabbed my rifle and ran back outside, and ran to the side of our boat facing the pirates and got down on my knee, placing the gun onto the side to steady it, since it wasn't swaying much.

"Hey, what are you doing?" One of the ponies I didn't recognize asked as he approached me.

"My job." I told him, causing him to look confused.

As soon as I got my sights over one of the enemy crew, who were much closer than they were before I had run to get my rifle, I pulled the trigger, watching happily as he dropped the following second. After that I hovered my sights over the pony who had run over to check on him, before dropping him too. After that one, the ship burst into panic, as they just saw two of their comrades die from what could only be described as an invisible force.

By the time I stopped shooting I had easily taken out 11 of the pirates, as the rest had made their way into the now slightly burning ship to avoid my fire, though the rest of my crew were confused at the action, they didn't seem too concerned by it.

"Hey Will, did you see that? All the pirates started dropping for some reason, and the rest of them ran down into the boat." Night asked as she approached me, but stopped when she saw the gun. "Oh, is that the thing everypony on A Squad has been talking about? The Rifle?" She questioned, suddenly fascinated.

"Yeah, this is it. I was just taking some shots at them." I said, picking up the rifle and standing up.

"Huh, doesn't look like it'd be able to do anything really." She said, looking the rifle in my hands over.

"Well, good things come in small packages." I said, smiling.

"I guess so. Anyways, the boat is turning to leave, but I doubt they'll make it that far considering the number our unicorns did on them. They're sending in the Pegasi to grab any prisoners and possible hostages." She finished.

"Well, good luck I guess. Though I doubt you'll need it." I said.

"Thanks, and I bet you're right. They must be terrified by this point." She agreed, beginning to fly off towards the ship.

"Hey, Will! Good news, they're retreating. We're sending the pegasi over now." Star said as she found me.

"Yeah, Night just told me before taking off." I responded, turning to face her.

"Is that your rifle? Huh, I guess that explains all the ponies we saw dropping on the deck." She said, seeming slightly impressed. "You're pretty good with that thing, I wouldn't be surprised if you get a promotion after this." She said.

"Well, that would be nice I guess, though I highly doubt it." I replied, slightly hoping I was right. I really didn't want to be in charge of many ponies.

"You never know Will, I mean because of you we have the pirates on the run before they even got close enough to attack. And after that business in the Crystal Empire, I have a feeling this will seal the deal." She said, crushing most of my hope.

"Yeah, I guess you're right." I said, doing my best to hide my disappointment.

"Well, after this, we're all being given watch duty rotations to make sure that nopony gets a jump on us." Star said sounding exasperated.

"What? But we took care of those guys easy enough." I said, equally frustrated.

"Yeah, but the Commander doesn't like to take chances." Star slumped slightly.

"You tired?" I asked, reaching out to stop her from falling if she did faint.

"Ehh, a little. Casting so many spells can tire a pony out, I'm sure the rest of them are a little drowsy too." She attempted to take a step but stumbled slightly.

"Welp, looks like it's nap time." I grabbed her and picked her up, much to her surprize and irritation.

"Ahh-Will?! What are you doing?! Put me down!" She said, trying to break free of my grasp.

"Nope. You need some rest." I retorted walking down the hall towards our room.

"Ugh, why are you doing this to me?" She said, in a mock sad tone.

"Consider it payback." I said, smirking down at her.

After a little more squirming she eventually gave in as I walked her to our room and placed her on the bed. "You aren't gonna knock me out, are you?" She asked jokingly.

"Not unless you want me to?" I retorted sarcastically.

"I think I'll pass." She responded.

"Alright, anything you want before I head out?" I asked.

"Nah, I'm good… Thanks Will." Star said, making the last bit barely audible.

"No problem Star. Have a good rest." I said, smiling back at her before closing the door.

"You two make sure a cute couple." I heard from behind me.

"Nah, I don't think she likes me too much actually." I respond.

"... Sure, keep telling yourself that." Night retorts sarcastically.

Too lazy to argue, I shrug my shoulders as response, earning a smile from Night as we begin walking down the hallway in no particular direction. "So, what'd you guys find on the ship?" I ask.

"Well, there was some illegal arms, drugs, and… Slaves…" She said, shivering before the last word barely managed to slip from her mouth. "They were so thin, like skeletons." She says, re-living the moments.

"Hey, if you want to talk about it, my ears are always open." I say, knowing that it always helps to talk about it.

"Thanks Will, but I think I'll be fine, it's just the initial shock, ya know?" She asks.

"Yeah, I know." I reply. "I know all too well." I think to myself.

"So, what are you gonna do now?" I ask, quickly remembering how boring life on a boat was.

"Well, I don't know about you, but I was headed down to the bar. Wanna come?" She asks.

"Sure, might as well." I respond.

Within a few minutes of sitting at the bar Night and I, as well as a few of the crew members, are pounding shots in an unspoken drinking contest. I pondered tapping out early, knowing that I could hold my liquor far better than any pony could, just by simple biology, but the teasing of my fellow drinking buddies shot that idea down fairly quickly.

-Time Jump-

"Fheel like quitting yet Whill?" Night slurred after downing her 16th shot.

"Pshhh, you'd like that wouldn't you?" I respond, fairing only slightly better, much to my surprise.

"H-hey, how come you are such a laid back guy? From what I've heard, you should be worse than Captain Shining Armor." Night questioned between hiccups.

"Well, to figure that out I'd have to do a lot of explaining, and I really don't think that is a good use of my time at the moment." I said, pausing for a moment. "Wait a minute, Shining Armor is a Captain?" I asked, surprised even from in drunken stupor, as the Spy network had never reported anything about Shining Armor being promoted.

"Yeah, but I guess now he's more of a Prince." She said, seeming to speak to herself as well as myself.

"Huh, well good for him." I said. "Here's to Prince-Captain Shining Armor!" I said, raising my shot glass into the air before downing it, along with everypony else who understood what we were talking about.

After a bit longer of our little drinking game, I came out victorious… Though I began questioning whether it really was a victory soon enough as I carried a passed out Night Owl down the corridor, which required my complete and utter focus at the moment.

"Oh, hey Will!" Star said as she approached, making me stumble slightly and nearly drop Night. "Woah there, what happened?" She questioned while grabbing Night from my grasp with her magic and placing her onto her own back.

"Whee had a contest, and I won!" I said, pumping my fist into the air in victory only to end up slamming it into the ceiling. "Ouch! Shit!" I replied, staring at my hand as my drunken mind questioned slightly if I had broken it somehow.

"I see, and did this contest happen to involve alcohol?" Star asked, confusing my drunken form.

"Ummm… Yes?" I responded, not entirely sure what she had asked. She sighed in response.

"Well, looks like it's time to repay a favor." She said eventually, picking me up in her magical grasp and practically dragging me towards our room with Night still on her back.

"You know Star, I get the feeling you enjoy torturing me like this." I slurred.

"Maybe a little bit." She replied, smirking back at me.

Eventually we made it to our room, where she placed me and Night down into our beds.

"Hey Star?" I questioned as she turned off the lights and was turning to walk out of the room.

"Yeah Will?" She responded.

"You're my best friend." I said, causing her to become slightly sad looking.

"Yeah, you're my best friend too Will." She replied slightly sadly before exiting the room.

"Oh shit" I thought to myself.

"Looks like you might want to pull one of those favors soon." I heard Discord speak genuinely in my mind before I passed out.


	8. Chapter 8

Hey guys, another chapter is here, this one a bit more action packed than the others. Hope you like it.

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"Shit, shit, shit." I thought outloud.

"Will! Commander is calling everypony up top!" I Night said as she popped her head into the room.

"Not more pirates, is it?" I asked slightly sarcastically.

"Nopony knows. Though a few think it might be involving You." She answered.

"Well shit, that can't be too good." I thought out loud.

Before Night could respond we were on the top deck and I was being whisked away two smiling ponies. "So what's up?" I asked as they practically dragged me through the crowd of ponies on the deck.

"You'll see." Was the only response I got from a grinning ponies.

After a surprisingly long time we finally manage to get through the crowd, and I was released in front of a few stairs leading up to the bridge where the Captain and Commander were waiting for me. I paused for a moment at the looks they were giving me, before they ushered me over.

"I really don't like where this is going." I mumbled to myself quiet enough so that nopony could hear.

"Hello Everypony. We are gathered here today to honor William for his actions, not only here today, but during his squad's mission to the Crystal Empire, where he was able to greatly aid in the downfall of Sombra, as well as save the Elements of Harmony's' lives. For these acts he is being awarded the Distinguished Service Medal." The Commander finished before pulling a medal out of a box the Captain had been holding before walking over to me. We both quickly realized that him trying to place that medal around my neck would be awkward due to my height, so I kneeled, much to his visible appreciation.

"Congrats. You've earned it." He said as he placed it around my neck.

After the medal was in place I stood up as the crowd began clapping for me, worsening my feeling about the situation. "Honestly, all I did was shoot a few things." I mumbled to myself, once again keeping it low enough so that nopony could hear me.

I decided that I might as well make a few people happy and, despite myself, let loose a big grin that, admittedly, was only half faked. After enough time had gone by the Commander spoke into the mic once again, dismissing the ceremony.

I headed back down only to be half-hug half-tackled by two mares. "We're so proud of you Will!" Night screeched joyously.

"It's about time you get a medal!" Star spoke happily.

"Well, I will admit it's nice to be noticed." I told them.

After that, a few other soldiers on board had congratulated me, and decided that I deserved a beer. We all headed down to the bar and, inevitably, got drunk. After most of the ponies had wandered off in a drunken stupor, I had what seemed to be an epiphany, and stood, walking towards the upper deck. Once there I made my way over to the side, casually stripped down to my boxers, and dove into the water below, hearing a faint scream as I shot down towards the water, the sharp wind knocking some soberness back into my mind as I realized what I was doing.

Though, as I said, the wind had knocked me to a slightly more sober stat, slightly more sober than completely drunk was still pretty drunk, as such I screamed a happy roar as I corrected my posture for a proper dive and sank straight into the water, virtually no splash coming up behind me.

As I felt the cool rush of water wash over my body I smiled a grand smile, which admittedly probably wasn't the greatest idea considering I felt saltwater fill my mouth, but I quickly made my way to the surface and spat it out, the taste of salt still flooding my mouth, but at least I wasn't going to choke on some water. As I looked towards the boat, which had easily traveled a couple hundred feet ahead of me, I heard ponies screaming faintly, and that is when I fully realized what I had just done.

"Note to self: No more beer on boats." I chided myself. The sea was very calm, much to my appreciation.

"Will, you do realize you aren't all alone out here, don't you?" Discord ask in the back of my head.

"Shut up Discord." I said childishly, his words admittedly scaring me slightly. In response all I heard was his laughter in my head, which I was quickly growing to hate.

As if on cue, a large shadow passed underneath me. And when I say large, I mean that it could easily take down our boat with one of it's, what appeared to be, tentacles, without breaking a sweat. As the colossal shadow floated under me, I began panicking, but no word could describe the feeling I felt as it suddenly pause, and slowly disappeared deeper into the water.

"Discord?!" I thought to him, almost in a pleading tone. "What the FUCK is that thing?!" I thought again.

"That, my dear Will, is the Kraken." He said nonchalantly.

"Discord you bastard if I ever find you I am going to shit on your soul." I absently said as I tried to think of a way to get anywhere but where I was.

"I look forward to us meeting then." He said, laughing lightly.

After a few minutes of sitting in panic, I had a sudden urge to look down. I thought about fighting said urge, knowing what was down there, but decided I might as well know when I was going to die.

As I looked down I felt my heart literally skip a beat. The Kraken was back, swimming around below me so closely that I could make out the texture and color of it's black scaly skin. To say the least, I was lucky I hadn't eaten much in the past couple days, or I would have probably shit myself.

"Discord… What do I do." I ordered more than asked.

"Well, you do have those favors." He said smugly. At this point I knew there was no way I was getting out of this other than pulling one, but I still didn't trust him, and as such, despite the enormous creature floating ominously around below me, I began thinking of the most specific and safe thing to ask for.

I guess Discord didn't like this, because soon after I started a few of the Kraken's massive tentacles shot out of the water, it's face following suit, hovering barely above the edge of the water. Well, face might have been a bit out of place describing what I saw before me.

It was the shape of a very old, very large dragon, with two massive pitch white eyes on either side, making it impossible to tell where it was looking, though I had a pretty good idea. It had spines trailing from the bridge of it's snout down much farther than my eyes could pick up through the water. Where a normal dragon's nostrils would be, it instead had what could only be described as tusks, long wiry white spears, which currently held multiple massive, yet smaller than the Kraken, mind, sea animals such as whales, large sharks, and other creatures, none of which I enjoyed seeing. The Kraken's mouth was easily one of the most terrifying features, having what appeared to be endless razor sharp teeth, which looked more like elongated sewing needles, chunks of meat and bone lodged between more than a few.

As I looked it over, it didn't move once, most likely due to Discord, though I didn't know if I was thankful or not. As we sat there, looking at each other with next to no other movement, I lost all previous train of thought, instead freezing in absolute fear. We sat like this for a few minutes, my lack of movement paired with the cold water quickly chilling me to the bone, smashing any chance at Me thinking properly. After a few minutes of blank staring at the beast in front of me, I felt a horrifying realization sweep over me, shaking me to my soul. Despite my attempts to fight it back, I let loose a loud, and vicious sneeze.

As soon as I had sneezed the Kraken began darting from it's spot towards Me at breakneck speeds as I felt my heart sink to the bottom of my foot. I practically died then and there out of fear, and in sheer panic spoke to Discord the first thing that popped into my head that could get me out of this situation, while still not being a waste of a favor.

A second after I ask my favor, I felt that it was too late and snapped my eyes shut as I prepared for what was inevitably going to be one of the most painful finishing blows in history. But it never came. Instead, I opened my eyes and was only able to gasp in shock as I now stood atop the now confused Kraken's head. At first I didn't believe it, and blinked a few times before nodding in acknowledgment that I indeed was where I was.

After that sudden epiphany I realized that my favor had been granted as my mind filled with knowledge. I quickly focused my head and searched for any piece of information, anything to help me escape with my life. And my mind, now filled with an infinite amount of combat knowledge, did not disappoint. In a flash I slammed my fist down onto the large creature's head with what others would see as unlimited experience. The speed and force behind the blow, admittedly surprising Me, sank down slightly, pulling the scales of the creature towards the point of contact and making a small indent in it.

After that I quickly stood as the Kraken screeched in pain, sending the heel of my right foot down into the newly made indent, while twisting it rapidly to the side, tearing a small patch of the Kraken's skin as it made contact with such a speed no normal pony, or human, could have seen it without a trained eye, which I now apparently had. As I lifted my foot up from the spot I began preparing to send the whole of my arm into said rip with a violent punch, hoping to possibly hit the brain, before the massive creature quickly began descending into the water, Me in tow.

Before I was completely submerged in the water I took a massive breath before I grabbed the ripped scales and allowed the Kraken to pull Me deep into the water. Eventually the Kraken, seemingly thinking I was long gone, slowed down enough for Me to fulfill My earlier goal of slamming the entirety of My right arm down the scar, bending and moving it around as much as possible in hopes to do as much damage as I could.

The Kraken, however, didn't like this one bit, as it instantly screamed the most horrifying and bloodcurdling scream I had ever heard, and shot towards the surface once again, my arm lodged deep into it's head being the only thing holding me to the now pissed off Kraken. As soon as we arrived at the surface I took a deep breath I forgot I had been holding, reveling in the crisp clean air.

But, despite my wishes, I had to leap from the spot, ripping my arm from the Kraken as I did so, and roll to the side as one of it's massive tentacles slammed down where I had been lying. This really pissed the Kraken off, as if not only hadn't felt the crunch of my body being flattened by it's massive tentacle, but it also has slammed directly into the fresh would I had delivered it, causing it to visibly shake with what I could only assume to be rage and pain.

After that the Kraken went ballistic, slamming tentacle after tentacle down towards me, only for me to dodge out of the way and have it assault itself in what was easily one of the most terrifying and hilarious games of "Why are you hitting yourself" in history. The Kraken eventually stopped its assault, bruises forming on it's head due to the beating it had unintentionally given itself. I took this opportunity to make a move, as I ran down towards the rip in it's badly bruised head, and jumped into the air, spinning around as quickly as I could as I did so, and landing directly on the scar, drilling my way through the tissue a good couple feet easily, before I repositioned my feet, bent over slightly, and slammed my whole arm, once again, deep into the animal's head hoping and praying that this animal didn't have a skull of iron, this time finding my mark as I felt something hard below my fist.

With a final blow, I brought my foot up before slamming it straight down, shattering the animal's skull, sending large chunks into it's brain, as well as my foot. The Kraken's scream ended as suddenly as it began, as it slowly sank into the water, dead or in the process of dying, leaving me to float, bobbing in the ocean. As the adrenaline faded from my system I realized that I might die out here either way, nopony or griffin or any other being other than Discord knew where I was. I knew I wouldn't die, because if push came to shove I would ask Discord to save Me somehow, but I didn't feel like giving up hope quite yet.

"Well, it could be worse." I mumbled to myself, enjoying the feeling of being weightless as I floated through the water. Weightless… Weightless… A sudden realization struck Me as I formed my body into the dark cloud form I was more thankful for now that ever before. I quickly floated into the air, in the path I had remembered the boat leaving, though in all honesty I was actually about a fraction of a percent sure, after everything that had happened. Either way, I floated on along the ocean for a good couple of hours, hoping to not run into any other scary ass sea creatures.

Eventually I found the boat, making me actually scream in excitement and happiness. It appeared they had turned around eventually, and were headed back to where I had jumped off. As I floated down to the main deck I got no small number of glances, for no small number of reasons I soon found as I looked at myself back in my normal form.

I quickly went over and grabbed my clothes, putting them on to hide the scars that covered my body. As soon as I had finished getting dressed, I heard a voice behind me approaching. "Will! You're alive!" Star yelled, diving onto me in a hug as Night walked over to me much more conserved, before jumping on top of me and Star in a small dog pile hug.

"Yeah, I'm alive as ever." I said as I picked them up and placed them down next to me before standing up.

"Will, what happened? I saw a HUGE shadow going your way a little bit after you jumped!" She said.

"Would you believe me if I told you I killed the Kraken?" I said.

Both girls laughed at my, admittedly, unbelieveable statement and dropped the issue, just as I had hoped they would. After a few seconds they both seemed to remember something as their looks turned to one of slight worry.

"Will, the Commander said once you're found you're to be held in the brig until we arrive at Saddle Arabia." Star explained sadly.

"Sounds good to me." I said, surprising both mares.

Rather than argue, they decided that it would probably be best to just bring me to the brig and lock me up before I changed my mind. After a short walk and more than a few odd and sad glances my way, we made it to the brig. They walked me to an empty cell opposite some ponies who Night informed me were the prisoners from the ship that had attacked us. She made sure to say, rather loudly, that I was being put away for how brutally I took down the troops on said prisoner's ship,causing more than a few to look at me in shock.

After they left, I noticed all the pirates staring at the floor, all except for one older looking stallion. "Aye, so you're the one who made my boys drop down dead from so far away, with no hint of attack other than a hole in their body." He spoke with a thick Saddle Arabian accet.

"I am." I answered simply, wanting to sleep rather than talk after the fight I had just went through.

"I gotta ask Lad, how did you manage to do such a feat?" He asked, genuine curiosity behind his voice as a few of his fellow pirates glanced my way, hoping for an answer.

"Why would I tell you?" I asked with a mix of slight anger as well as curiosity.

"Because I, Blackmane, the most feared pirate of the seven seas, capturer of ships and gold alike, and one of the most talented swords-pony's to ever walk the planet, am asking you politely." He responded, his ego seemingly growing with every word. "Now, who are you to withhold this information?" He asked, pride dripping from his words.

"Name's Will. Friend of the Elements of Harmony, Soldier in the Equestrian Army, accomplice in the downfall of Sombra, acquaintance of Discord," Discord 'awwwed' in my head as I said that one, " The finest fighter to walk the planet, and most recently, slayer of the Kraken." I replied, deciding against my better judgment to play their game, if not only for my entertainment.

The last two comments I made sunk in deep with the pirates, namely their captain. "You bluff. Nopony has ever seen the Kraken and lived to tell the tale!" The captain scolded.

"Do I look like a pony to you?" I simply replied. None of them knew how to respond to that, and instead turned to one of the other comments I had said.

"Do you truly that you could out-do somepony such as myself in a match? Somepony who has spent their entire life fighting, be it for survival or for gold?" He asked.

"Yep. And if the guards will let us, I'll show you." I said nonchalantly. Every one of the captain's sailors gasped at that, while the captain himself just smiled a deep smile.

Eventually a guard entered the room that held our cells. "Guard, wanna do me a favor?" I asked the stallion, who seemed intrigued, moving closer to my cell.

"He wants what?!" the Commander screamed at the stallion who had just informed him that Will wanted to go against Blackmane in a dual. He did believe that Will had some kind of skill, considering how well he was doing so far, but to go against Blackmane? He was one of the most talented stallions ever known when it came to a blade. One of the few ponies books were written about while they were still alive.

"Will said that Blackmane bet the location of his gold stache, and Will's bet was that if he won, he would be released and given a new boat." The guard finished. causing the Commander's eye to twitch.

"HE DID WHAT?!" the Commander screamed, less of an actual question than a rhetorical one.

After a couple of minutes the guard returned and let me and Blackmane know it wasn't gonna happen, much to both our anger.

"Get me some paper and a quill please?" I asked the guard, who gave me an odd look, but did anyways. After writing a small letter explaining what I had asked Discord, and had the guard bring it to him. A short while later the guard returned and, while looking at me oddly, informed us that it was to happen in the Mess Hall, causing Blackmane and I to both smile widely as we looked at each other evilly.

A few minutes passed and a small group of guards entered the room, and then escorted Blackmane, his crew, and myself to the Mess Hall, which had been cleared of benches and tables, and filled with ponies watching from the sidelines.

After we each were placed in our respective places on the makeshift arena floor, I was given a cutlass that, while it would have been large on a pony, was perfect for my size.

Blackmane was given his own sword back, and was uncuffed, before the Commander, acting as the ref, spoke loudly. "Begin!" He bellowed.


	9. Chapter 9

**Hey guys, here's another chapter. Doing my best to get back on track. It is a little short, but I the next ones will be longer, just needed to post something.**

**OC's are still welcome, I am looking for any pony to play a bad-guy/girl. The sooner you send yours in the higher up in the ranks he/she will be. Hope you enjoy.**

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As soon as the Commander's words echoed through the Mess Hall there was a halt in everypony present's breath as, without warning, I swiftly and graciously… placed my sword on the ground and began walking off towards where all of the tables and chairs had been moved to, picked up a chair, brought it back to where I had been standing, and sat down on it a few feet from where I had left my sword.

There wasn't a single closed jaw in the room as I sat back and placed my hands behind my head, lounging. After a few minutes of complete silence the Pirate Captain finally regained his composure, and lifted his sword while walking towards me, a menacing and watchful expression plastered on his face.

Once he was within a foot of me, he apparently came to a sudden realization as he simply stood from his combat stance and stabbed at me with his sword, only for it to be deflected by my sword, now floating in my magical grasp, much to the amazement of nearly everypony watching.

Blackmane jumped back and quickly fell into a defensive position, anticipating an attack that never came. After a moment he walked up and batted my sword, only to be met by an equally powerful attack, locking him in a clash he seemed determined to win against my floating sword. Meanwhile, I had called for a sandwich, which, once they realized that I was not joking, was eventually brought over to me by an astounded pony.

"How's it going Blackmane?" I called to him while taking a bite from my sandwich. He had eventually managed to not overpower my sword, but push off from it to escape, and was currently swinging his sword in a frenzy in an attempt to block a barrage of attacks from my sword. Blackmane didn't respond verbally, instead he chose to swipe as hard as he could and knock my sword away from him before he charged me before lunging at me sword first.

There was a collective gasp as his there was a dull *thud* noise and his sword stuck true, sticking straight out from where I sat. My sword dropped to the ground as the magical aura surrounding it disappeared. "Aha! The great Blackmane is once again victorious!" He called to everypony present, causing his crew to cheer from the sidelines.

"B-blackmane," I started between shallow breaths, causing him to lean in slightly to hear my quiet voice.

"'Tis it boy?" He asked smugly.

"I-I was j-just wondering… How it feels?" I asked innocently.

"Well lad, when you accomplish something challenging, you feel a great sense of pride swell up in yer chest, and your body seems to tingle all over. Unfortunately, all I feel is humor that ye' thought you could best me." He chuckled.

"T-that's not what I meant." I spoke even quieter now, causing him to lean in even more. "I meant, what does it feel like to know you've met your match?" I said as I grinned, my voice became louder with each word until it reached its normal level, before I lifted my arm revealing that the sword had simply slid between my arm and my torso, and only appeared to have stabbed me. The Pirate Captain suddenly turned pale and backed away slightly, only for him to trip over my now fallen sword, which he grabbed and held towards me.

I simply stood, pulled the sword out of the chair, and began walking towards him, leaving nopony in the room without a, once again, dropped jaw. As I approached the shaking pirate captain I grinned and started swinging his sword around in my hand in an impressive display of skill. Once I was close enough he lunged at me in a last ditch effort of victory, only for me to sidestep and grasp his wrist, twisting it slightly farther that it should have, causing him to yelp in pain and drop the sword before dropping him to the floor.

Blackmane, submitting to his fate, scrunched his eyes together and put his hooves up, waiting for the finishing blow. After a minute or so passed with no movement on either of our parts, he pried his eyes open only to see the sword stabbing down and stabbing into the floor less than an inch from his head, causing him to flinch.

"So, does this mean I win?" I asked childishly, causing Blackmane to open his eyes again to see me holding a hand down to help him up. "Good match, man." I said as he grasped my hand and pulled him up.

"H-how?" Is all Blackmane was able to sputter out as the rest of the room, other than his grumbling crew, erupted into applause.

"Friends in high places my friend." I said cryptically, winking at him. He stood there, still in some kind of shock as I walked off to talk to Star and Night.

"Will… What was that?!" Star shouted.

"I didn't take you for a swordsman, Will." Night said, sounding impressed.

"Well, I like to keep things interesting." I said casually, not wanting to discuss my deals with Discord, since I knew there would probably be a lot of doubt and worry over my favors.

"Well, you're certainly doing a good job." Star laughed.

After the short battle Blackmane confessed the location of his buried treasure, and the Commander sent a small crew out to go and retrieve it, since we were fairly close to it. It was apparently located on a small, unmapped area that the Pirate Captain had taken to defending. As it was unmapped, and as such unclaimed, it was officially claimed as Equestrian Territory, and the Commander made a small letter explaining the whole ordeal before sending it to Celestia and Luna back on the mainland.

The next couple of days were, surprisingly, uneventful. I assumed it was due to Discord trying to think of something that would potentially force me into using my final favor, much to my annoyment. The few notable things, if any, were that I was no longer staying in the brig, but I was no longer to be served alcohol on the boat, Blackmane had attempted to escape, but didn't get far due to my door being located on the hall between the deck and the brig, so I just stepped out with a sword when I heard all the ruckus and he went on back down to his cell. And finally, and most dreadfully, all of the sails on the boat were, thanks to Discord I believe, struck by lightning and burned to ashes, leaving us stranded in the middle of the ocean.

Other than that life on the boat was painfully slow. That is until on the fourth day, when out of the blue, a dragon flew over. A big dragon… A really, really big dragon. The dragon seemed to see our boat as it flew over, and landed. And I don't mean it landed on the boat, I mean it landed in the water, probably touched the bottom of the ocean, and still had it's head held higher than the biggest mast on the boat.

"Hello there." He said, thankfully pointing his mouth to the sky as he talked so that he wouldn't blow the damn boat apart just by talking.

"Umm… Hi?" I said, as I was currently leaning over the railing of the boat staring at the ocean, now filled with a larger-than-life dragon.

"I must apologize for the bluntness of my question, but I saw you and I had to make sure. Could it be that you are a human, boy?" Asked the dragon.

"In the flesh." I said, happy that I finally found someone who remembered us.

"Ahh, it has been a very, very long time since I have enjoyed the vulgar and inappropriate company of a human." The dragon reminisced. "Tell me, what happened to you all? Rumor has gotten about you all went extinct." Asked the dragon.

"Well we got tired of all the wars and whatnot that Discord had brought, so to save ourselves we took to hiding in hopes to wait out his rule. When the time did finally come, times in the colony were so peaceful that very few even wanted to go back into the world." I answered, causing many of the ponies around me to become intrigued at my little story.

"Aaahhh, no race has ever been quite so comfortable and done so well in chaos. It is not a surprise to me you have found peace, something about your race is simply impossible to break." He spoke, once again visibly thinking of the past. "So, if your colony is so peaceful, why are you here?" He asked, causing more than a few eyebrows to raise as they suddenly thought the same thing.

"I was banished from the colony. Nothing too serious just one too many incidents over the millennia." It was now my time to reminisce on the past.

"Wait wait wait wait, wait. Millennia?!" Star asked, as all eyes other than the dragons went wide.

"Indeed. Humans are very technologically inclined, and as such have developed many ways to greatly extend their lifespan." The dragon answered for me. "Though if I recall the process is very, very expensive. Even some dragons would fail to be able to afford it." He added, giving me a questioning look.

"Yeah, let's just say that one of my best friends might have been one of the ones to create said process, and after I saved his life he paid for me to undergo it." I explained.

"So Will… How old are you?" Asked Night.

"Well, god what day is it, Tuesday? That would make me… 4006." I answered, stunning everypony for the upteenth time.

"T-that's older than Celestia!" Star exclaimed.

"Actually that's older the Equestria, but yeah Celestia too." I said, causing at least one pony to faint.

"Ahh, how refreshing. Finally, someone who is older than I." The dragon said, chuckling slightly.

"Yeah, I feel tired just thinking about it." I joked, causing the dragon to laugh lightly. "So, you know my name, but I still don't know yours?" I said.

"Very well. My name is Bernard." He answered.

"Well, Bernard, I hate to impose, but I don't suppose you could help us out with our ship?" I asked Bernard.

"Of course, what is it you require?" He asked.

"Well you see, our sails were all struck by lightning and burned, so now we're stuck. Think you could help us get to Saddle Arabia somehow?" I asked.

"Very well. You may want to grab on to something." He said, causing everypony on the ship to grasp the closest thing to them with a death grip. With the flick of his wings he was flying over our boat and gently leaned down and picked us up, and then began flying towards what I can only guess was Saddle Arabia. Long story short, our supposed seven more days at sea shrunk down to about one hour of flying. Once we were docked at a port, I thanked Bernard and let him know where I was staying if he ever wanted to drop by and hang out in the Everfree before he took off.

"So Grandpa, what else have you been keeping from us?" Night asked, nudging me with her hoof.

"Well, I've broken every bone in my body at least twice, I can speak five different languages, two of which are no longer known to the world other than those who know it and are still alive, I'm an honorary dragon in the Horde, I have killed and buried one of every species on the planet, and I have a baby picture of Celestia and Luna in my wallet from when I was in the spy network." I listed.

"Wait, what was that middle one?" Asked Star.

"I'm an honorary dragon in the Horde." I repeated nonchalantly.

"Wait but wha-... How… Nevermind." Star spoke, making me chuckle.

"... So you have baby pictures of Celestia and Luna?" Asked Night.

"Yeah, when I was in the spy network I was assigned to learn the layout of Canterlot Palace, and while I was there I stumbled onto the two little fillies in the Royal Nursery and they were too adorable to not take a picture of." I said, thinking of the picture I looked at when I fell into any sort of depression.

"You are definitely showing us that picture." Star said.

"Sure thing." I replied as walked through the city streets.

"Celestia… Do you feel that?" Luna asked her sister as they were enjoying breakfast together.

"I do… For some reason I just want to strangle Will…" Celestia answered, getting a nod of agreement from Luna.

Once we had docked the boat, everypony split up into their groups and headed off towards their designated state in the country. The Commander put it simply as soon as we were all on dry land. "You are officially Saddle Arabia Citizens. Equestria has no power here. As far as anypony is concerned you are not related to the Equestrian military in any way, just some ponies on vacation. If you ever have something to report, just make your way to the closest 'Saddles, Silks, and Style' and say "It sure is a rainy day." other than that, make sure you are careful. We want 0 casualties, and if you get arrested we will do our best to bail you out, but sadly, I cannot make any promises." He finished. After that everypony split off and started walking.

We had walked all day and it was beginning to get dark out, and everypony was tired. Finally, we had found a hotel to stay in for the night, much to our relief. As we headed inside I couldn't help but realize. "How the hell do we pay for this?" I asked Star.

"Don't worry, I've got the money in my saddlebag." She said as we approached the desk.

"Why hello." The mare behind the counter spoke as she saw us approaching. "I'm sorry, but there is a no pets policy in this hotel." She spoke upon seeing me.

"I don't see any pets." I said, causing her to flinch slightly.

"I-I see… Please, just give me a moment." She said before she turned around and went into a back room.

"I swear to god if she comes back with a collar I will rip her head off." I spoke, causing the two mares in front of me to laugh.

"Very well. Here are the keys to your room, and this is for you." The mare said, causing Star and Night to gasp slightly.

"God damn it Discord I know you are behind this one." I mumbled to myself.


	10. Chapter 10

**Sup guys, Another Hopeless Writer here, been doing my best to pound out as much as I can as fast as I can to make up for the huge cap between updates a while back. I don't know if anyone actually reads this story, but I still feel bad about it. As promised this is a somewhat longer chapter than the last one, and I hope you enjoy it.**

**P.S. if anyone is reading this story, constructive criticism is much appreciated, whether it's in the form of a pm or a review or whatever.**

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"... You're fucking kidding me, right?" I asked blankly, not taking my eyes off of the black collar the mare now held in her hoof.

"I'm afraid not." Came her reply, not sounding the least bit upset or empathetic. There was a brief moment of silence before I spoke again.

"Yeah, I'm not wearing that." I said, doing my best to not show how much I wanted to shoot her in her damn face.

"Excuse me, but would one of you please control your pet." The mare said, causing one of my eyes to twitch.

"You must really have a death wish." I mumbled, just loud enough for her to hear. Despite my hopes she didn't seem the least bit phased.

"Will, it's late, will you just wear the collar?" Star whined cutely.

"...You two are lucky you're so cute." I grumbled loudly as I reached out and snatched the collar out of the mare's hoof, putting it on like a bracelet. As we headed up to our rooms I looked back at the mare, pulled my gun out, and shot a pencil she was reaching for before she could touch it, though once again she seemed unfazed as she simply pulled another out of one of the drawers on her desk, much to my annoyment.

After a short walk down a hall and up a flight of stairs we finally arrived at our room. "I am going to kill that mare." I said as I took the collar off of my wrist and threw it in the trash.

"Sorry Will. We'll think of something to make it up, don't worry." Star said as she laid down on one of the beds. There were two beds in the room, and since I didn't feel like being a bother I simply laid down and fell asleep on the floor, while Night took the other bed, giving me an appreciative smile.

That night I dreamt about being back home, in the Colony, but it quickly shifted to Ponyville, and all of the friends I had made in such a short time. I felt bad since I hadn't been able to spend much time with the girls, but I knew I planned to change that as soon as I got back from this mission.

"I don't remember falling asleep with a blanket..." I thought as soon as I woke up. Slowly lifting my head and opening my eyes I realized that Star and Night were on top of me, soundly asleep. Not wanting to wake them up, I decided to just lay there until they woke up. I carefully put my hands behind my head and laid it back to the floor, thinking of what might happen today, and more importantly, any way I could get revenge on that stubborn mare who made me wear the collar.

"Really I wasn't too upset by the collar, but when she called me a pet, even after I had told her I wasn't." I thought to myself. "I really should talk to Celestia about how racist the ponies are." I absentmindedly added.

As soon as I thought that last bit I felt something shift on top of me. "Morning." I greeted, getting a small 'eep' out of Star.

"H-hi Will." She responded nervously as she quickly started scrambling to get off of me.

"You don't have to move if you don't want to." I told her, bringing a hand down and scratching behind her ear, knowing the affect it could have on ponies. As expected, she let out a quiet moan and, unexpectedly, one of her back hooves began kicking, much like a dogs would.

"We never speak of this." She said between pants as I chuckled, accidentally waking up Night.

"Mmmm. Speak of what?" Night asked as she lifted her head and shook her mane from her eyes. She only smirked as she saw Star, tongue lolling out and hoof kicking as I scratched behind her ears.

Before she could say anything I moved my other hand and began scratching behind her ear as well as Stars, earning the same reaction minus the hoof kicking. After a few more minutes I stopped, much to the displeasure of the girls, if their upset groans were anything to go by.

"So what do we have planned for today?" I asked, picking up the girls and placing them next to me before I stood up.

"Well, we aren't in Riyde, so we are going to keep heading that way." Night said as if it was obvious, and honestly it was.

"Ugh, couldn't we just teleport there?" I asked, trying and probably failing to hide the annoyance in my voice as we left the room and started heading down to the lobby after I grabbed the collar out of the trash. As a last second thought I cast a small spell on it that would shock the next person to touch it.

"No, unfortunately not. To teleport somewhere you have to have been there, or know enough about it to be able to picture it in your mind." Star said, sounding equally as annoyed as I felt, until I felt something click in my mind.

As we approached the front desk Star put down a small bag of bits and I tossed the collar to the mare I despised, watching in joy as she jumped slightly as she was jolted with electricity when she caught it.

"Wait a minute, so if you could say, see a picture of somewhere in Riyde you could just teleport us there?" I asked once we got outside, going for my phone, and thanking the annoying lady who sold it to me for persuading me to get a waterproof case.

"Well yes. Do you have a picture?" Star asked, sounding excited.

"More or less." I spoke absentmindedly as I Gizoogled 'Riyde' and hit 'Images fo' Riyde'. After I clicked it I started scrolling through the pictures until I found a nice picture of what appeared to be a Town Square of sorts. Holding the picture up to an amazed Star, she began focussing and after about five minutes we appeared in the location the picture had been taken of. Sadly, we may have gotten the place correct, but the timing, it would seem. could have been better. As soon as we appeared there was a loud collective gasp.

Looking around briefly I noticed two things. One, there were lots of ponies surrounding us, and two, it looked as if we had appeared right in the path of a big ass parade. After about a minute I noticed a third thing; there were armor clad ponies drawing their weapons and approaching us.

"Halt! You are under arrest!" Called one of the ponies I could only assume were guards.

I quickly glanced at Star and Night, silently asking what to do, only to receive a sad nod from Star. Since apparently we weren't going to fight our way out of this, I slipped my phone into my back pocket of my pants. That done, I did my best to look as nonthreatening as possible.

"Guards, take them to the castle prison. I will be there shortly after the parade is finished." Came a thick Saddle Arabian accent from a large wooden cube with what appeared to be silk draped down the front and back. A few guards moved in and made a small prism around us, with the unicorn in the back, some earths in the front, and a few pegasi hovering above.

After we had been walking for what I estimated to be ten minutes, we arrived at a palace. Upon entering Star, Night, and I all had the same reaction; total awe. This palace, with it's marble brick walls and white tile flooring, high domed ceilings, highly detailed tapestries, and golden vases, among other things, made the Canterlot Palace look like a rundown house on the shady side of Manehatten. The guards seemed to notice our gaping mouths and all smirked, and stood to their fullest height in pride.

"Nice place." I said, prompting one of the guards in front of us to turn to me with a smile on his face.

"The palace was made centuries ago, constructed using only the finest of materials available to the world. It is easily one of the most luxurious buildings out there." He informed us.

"Yeah, such a shame it was built under the circumstances it was." I replied, causing a raised eyebrow from a few of the guards, as well as Star and Night.

"Such as?" The same guard asked.

"You can't tell me you didn't know this place was built by slaves?" I half asked half told. This statement made everypony around me gasp, and the guards specifically to become angry.

"How dare you tell such a lie!" Came the infuriated response of one of the pegasi above us.

"Look buddy, it's not my fault you don't know the history of this place." I said, causing him to glare daggers at me, as well as a few of his comrades.

"I am not the one who doesn't know the history. Who are you to make such claims?" He snapped back.

"Well, if you must know, you are looking at one of those slaves." I replied, causing more than a few ponies to gasp, while remembering the time I spent working on the very building I was walking through. "I was on a scouting mission and I was caught. Since I was here illegally, I was put to work as a slave." I explained.

"That's impossible! This castle was built hundreds of years ago!" One of the earth ponies behind us spoke up.

"I can prove it to you." I replied calmly. "But you have to trust me for a little bit." I finished, causing the guards to all look around to one another before looking to me and nodding.

"Alright, just follow me." I said, taking lead of the party of curious ponies. Making my way through the halls was easy enough, since I had long since been forced to dedicate them to memory. After a few short minutes we stood outside a door with two guards standing outside.

"You're going to need to get them to let us in." I spoke to the group of guards as we made our way towards them.

"Are you mad?! That's the king's bedroom!" One of the pegasi spoke.

"I know. I helped build it." I said. "It's a huge room, with a balcony to match facing the city, with golden trim going up and down the marble pillars holding the railing, which is enchanted to stay cool even on the hottest of days. The walls are marble too, but not enchanted. The floor is a modified material that is known as Mineral Wool Carpeting, and is an amazing insulator, which helps the room stay cool for the most part when the enchanted glass doors to the balcony are shut." I said, remembering the masterpiece of a room I was charged with completing. By the time I had finished, we had finally made it to the door.

"We were told by King Abdullhoof to escort these new maids to his room." Said one of the unicorn guards.

"We have heard no such news." Said one of the door guards skeptically.

"Oh man, what is that?!" I suddenly said, putting on a horrified look while staring at the door. As soon as the door guards looked I brought my hands up and nerve pinched both of them, causing them to collapse. "You ponies are way too gullible for your own good." I said, stepping over their bodies and entering the room.

"So? Where is this 'proof'? Asked a nervous sounding earth pony guard.

"The one place you would most expect it." I said, walking over to a bookshelf and pulling out a book titled "The History of Riyde". Turning to the last page I read aloud. "To open secret door, place book back on shelf." I read before placing the book back into it's spot. As I did so, the fireplace began shifting, becoming wider and taller, the empty fire-pit lowering as a stone path appeared over it. The path began opening up deeper and deeper, creating a set of stairs.

"Where does this lead?" Asked one of the guards, shock easily distinguishable in his voice.

"This leads down to the archives." I said, beginning to walk down the stairway. Once we were down the fairly short flight of stairs we entered a large room, filled with bookshelves. "These are the record books they used to keep track of all the slaves." I said.

"So Will, your name is in one of these books?" Asked Night.

"No, they didn't use names. Instead they used numbers. Each slave was given a number they were required to dedicate to heart. That way, with no names, there was no proof of it happening. To most ponies these would just look like books of random numbers scribbled down in random order." I said. "... 639." I whispered, just loud enough for everypony to hear.

"Will, we have got to do something about this!" Star said, sounding infuriated.

"Nothing we can do. Besides, everyone who worked on this place is dead, other than Me, and I have long since put this behind me." I said.

"But Will, this palace was built using Slave Labor!" Night commented.

"Yeah, but it's not the first time it's happened. Honestly, this was one of the nicer times slaves have been used. We all got a good seven hours of sleep a day, two hot meals, five minute breaks every other hour, and they didn't even take kids. Compared to most other places where slavery has been condoned, those are damn fine conditions." I retorted.

"Other places have had slavery? Where?" Asked Night.

"Most countries in the world. Only ones I can think of that didn't are the Dragons and the Minotaurs." I replied, causing Star and Night to both slightly pale.

"E… Equestria had slaves?" Night asked in disbelief.

"Yeah, nobody really saw that one coming. After Luna was sent to the moon Equestria was sent to a dark place for a while, and Celestia decided that the best way to keep things running smoothly was with mandatory labor. That's actually why Cutie Marks became a thing. They were kinda like brandings, showing what that pony would have to do. She magically added them into the genes of the adult ponies, and they eventually became a genetic inheritance that was passed down through generations." I explained. By this point the room was absolutely silent, both parties in the room feeling some kind of shame in their countries history.

"Hey guys, don't worry, your countries were among the nicest when it came to slaves. We humans were absolutely horrible. We'd beat slaves, starved them, hell, we even invented ways to torture them without actually damaging their bodies just so we could punish them while keeping them in working order." I told the room, my own country's history popping up in my mind. I had never owned a slave, but I also never tried to treat them as equals, which to this day made me sick to my stomach.

"Hey! Who's down there?!" Called a voice from the top of the stairs, breaking everyone present out of their thoughts and causing a panic. Thinking as quickly as I could, I ran over to one of the guards and socked him in the jaw, causing him to stumble back slightly.

"Get some shackles on them." I whispered to the other while pointing to Star and Night. The guard seemed confused but quickly did as I said.

"Hey man, sorry about tha-" I began before I was tackled by the stallion I had punched in the face. As he sat, pinning me to the ground, I looked up at him and winked before swiping my hand out of his grip and grabbing his hoof before slamming it into my head, knocking me unconscious.

"Oh shit." I groaned as I woke up. Taking in my surroundings I noticed that I was chained to a wall in what appeared to be a dungeon.

"Will! Are you awake?" I heard a familiar voice call.

"Star, is that you? Yeah I'm awake. Where are you guys?" I asked.

"We're in a cell to the right of you." Night answered me.

"They didn't hurt you did they?" I asked, suddenly worried.

"No, we're fine, thanks to that move you pulled back there." Star said.

"The guards said that you had broke free and ran off to the Archives, and that they dragged us off after you in an attempt to get you to calm down, but you started attacking them before they were able to knock you unconscious. After that they brought us back here and left. Apparently King Abdullhoof is on his way to personally see who managed to make it into his archive." Night relayed to me what had happened.

"Ahh, I had a feeling I would find you here, number 639" King Abdullhoof spoke as he entered the dungeon.

"I take it you've heard of me?" I spoke nonchalantly.

"Of course. You have become somewhat of a legend to my family. 'The one that got away' as it were. The one slave to escape. I must say, based on what I have heard of it, I am quite impressed." The King said, stepping closer to me as he continued talking until he was right in front of me. "You know, I hate to have met on such poor circumstances, but I think we both know what must be done here, today." He spoke calmly, drawing a small dagger from a sheath on his side.

I did know what must be done. Can't have anyone who knows about the dark past of his family. "You know, I haven't said a word about what happened since the day I escaped, but seeing as how hospitable you are, I think I just might start." I said as he cleaned the already pristine dagger, more than likely to hear if I have anything to say that he might want to hear.

"Ahh, what a shame. Not that you will be talking, as we both know that won't be happening, but a shame that you have to die. I could use a new jester around the castle." He spoke, apparently finally happy with the condition of his blade.

He put the blade to my chest, over my heart, and thrust forward, only to his the wall behind me as I turned my torso to the black mist, my arms and legs following suit as I slipped from the shackles that held me in place. Floating past the shocked king, I made my way over to the cell Star and Night were being held in. Turning solid again, I walked over to the king, lifted him into the air, and locked him into the shackles I had just been a few minutes earlier.

After that was done, I searched his pockets, much to his disapproving shouts as he regained his composure. I quickly shut him up by taking the dagger from him, as well as the keys I had finally found. I took the dagger and put it to his throat. "That is not the only trick I have up my sleeve. Try to pursue me and you will quickly learn the rest. Now be quiet." He shut up right fast at that, so I went over and opened the cell holding Night and Star.

"M'ladies." I said, mocking a bow as they exited the cell and passed me, heading towards the door, but not before walking up the the king and socking him in the gut and head respectively.

As we left the dungeon we were greeted by some surprised looking guards. "Hey guys, what's up?" I said to the guards that had been tasked with escorting us earlier.

"W-we thought he was gonna kill you." Said a pegasus guard.

"Nah it'll take more than a snobby king with a vendetta to take me down." I said, walking past them. "Care to join us?" I called back, not turning around. My answer was in the form of several hoofsteps following behind us as we walked. "Umm, Will? This isn't the way to the exit." Star said.

"I know. We aren't leaving just yet." I said, continuing to walk. Eventually we made it to the end of a hallway, guest rooms on either side. Walking up to the end of the hallway I took down the painting on the wall, revealing a rune slightly bigger than my head. Placing my hand on it allowed it to magically scan my hand, which caused a door in the wall to begin sliding open to reveal a stairway leading up.

"Had a feeling they were too lazy to change the runes." I said, beginning to ascend the stairway I had used many times during construction of the castle. After we had made it to the top we were welcomed to the sight of the King's bedroom. Removing and replacing the same book as before the stairway in the fireplace opened once again, as we all began descending the stairway.

"Will, what are we doing?" Asked Star.

"We're grabbing a few books. Think of it as a self-given parting gift." I answered. Once we made it to the archives I instantly made my way to the back of the room. Looking through the titles of the books I finally found the one I was looking for. It was a fairly thin book, with no title, the only book in the archives without one. "This is the journal of the chief slaver. He was the only pony allowed to use names, and I know for a fact mine is in here more than once." I said, taking the book before heading back up the stairs.

"Will, why do you want that book?" This time it was Night who asked the question.

"Insurance. To make sure that the King gives us no trouble while we're in the country. This book could single-handedly get him removed from power, or worse." I said simply. After that we made our way back to the dungeon.

"Hey King-y, just want you to know that I am taking the Chief Slaver's Journal, y'know, just to make sure you don't try anything funny while we're here." I said, smiling at his horrified expression. After that we just left the castle, the guards coming with us, not that I was complaining since they are probably the only reason we weren't attacked when we tried to leave.

"So, I take it you guys are with us from now on?" I asked the group.

"If you'd be alright with that, yeah. We've never seen this side of our kings family, and frankly it's not what we signed up for." Said one of the unicorns.

"You two cool with this?" I asked Star and Night, both of which nodded. "Sweet, you guys are in. Might actually be helpful having some authority figures around." I said.

"So, why are you guys in Saddle Arabia anyways?" Asked one of the former guards.

"Classified." I said suddenly serious.

"Oh, I get that. I was just curiou-" The guard started before I cut him off.

"I'm just fucking with ya man, we're here tracking down a notorious illegal things dealer. Real meany. Gonna sucker punch his face in the face if we find him." I said, causing everypony around me to facehoof.


	11. Chapter 11

Guys it has been a LONG LONG LONG ass time since I did anything, but in my defense I'm also a piece of shit. Anyways, I am trying to get back into writing (Hopefully I won't be an idiot anymore). As I've said before, reviews are always helpful, and I am still looking for OC's to add in if You want. I hope You enjoy this (It's been a while since I worked on it last so the writing style might be a little different.)

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"We will be done in an hour, tops." Called Steel Beak.

"Then we better get to work." I called back, wiping the sweat from my brow.

It was a hot day, much to the surprise of no one. It was always a hot day in Saddle Arabia, even in the winter. It was currently about 11am, and the sun was high in the air. Most ponies were either inside, or were like me and unlucky enough to be out basking in the sun. Most people who saw Me would have one obvious question; 'Why aren't you inside?' and really the answer was simple. I wasn't allowed inside until Steel and I finished up the Royal Balcony, where the king would address his people.

"What do you think we'll be having for lunch?" I called half-heartedly to Steel.

"Same thing as every day; air." Came his sarcastic reply.

I sighed; We never did get lunch. Breakfast and Dinner were apparently supposed to hold us over, even with the work we were put through. I honestly didn't mind as much as most of the others did, since I never really ate much to begin with, but the work was usually less than pleasant. Me and Steel were usually the ones working on the 'Royal This' and 'Royal That', being the two beings at camp who had very accurate and agile appendages on our hands.

"Son of a bitch!" I head Steel exclaim, and looked over. He had accidentally crushed his wing while adjusting one of the heavy slabs that the balcony floor was going to be made of.

"I see my bad language is rubbing off on you." I called, smirking at him.

Despite the conditions, were both thankful for having this job, since it meant we weren't in the mines, or the dreaded kitchen, but it wasn't even close to as nice as the jobs the smarter creatures got, like being the King's personal assistant, or even working in the guard barracks. Really, there were two types of jobs; Hard Labor, or dealing with a lot of Assholes, and we got a perfect blend of the two.

"Alright, that should just about do it. You think we are ready to head back to camp?" Steel asked.

"I don't see why not. Besides, nobody is coming to inspect it until the main room is finished, so we have time to fix anything we notice later on down the road."

With that we headed in, and walked over to one of the hallways designated to us 'workers' so that the Princess wouldn't see us and ask questions. I shivered at the thought of the Princess. She was easily one of the most adorable fillies I had ever seen, but her seeing you meant one thing and one thing only; You were getting executed. Can't have a little girl knowing about the cruel things her father was doing, that was an honor reserved for the one who would marry Her.

It was a common topic around the camp, what she looked like, and, more importantly, what she was like. Very few other than Steel and I had gotten away with seeing her, and mainly due to catching a glance of a picture of Her and her father. Her father, likewise, was a common topic around the camp, and for much the same reason. The stallion was terrifying, with scars all over his body, which he wore with enough confidence that you would question why you didn't have scars yourself.

The king was known around the camp mainly for his cruelty. It was no secret that he tended to personally dish out punishments, rather than his guards. His favorite method of 'punishment', though honestly it was just torture, was to personally remove a limb with a white hot blade, and then have them tended to by his prize physician and given time to recover. After they had, he would send them back out to work, but this time with a quota, one that couldn't possibly be reached.

If, or more accurately, when you didn't reach the quota, he would remove a second limb, and the process would repeat until you were nothing but a stub. The body parts, we sadly found out, were sent to the camp kitchen. There was a general understanding around camp that you did everything in your power to follow orders, and do what you were told, not for your own sake but for everyone else's.

"Aye, there he is!" Called an overjoyed and freakishly large minotaur.

Steel and I looked at each other, both wondering which one he was talking about. Our answer was in the form of said minotaur picking me up by my shoulders to eye level. "Well hey there Iron." I said.

Iron, the only minotaur in the camp, was easily the biggest and strongest thing within 50 miles of the palace. His name wasn't really Iron, since minotaur rarely have names, but the King 'titled' him Iron when he made him the Princess's personal bodyguard/servant. He easily had the most dangerous job in the camp, since if the Princess ever got too upset there was a good chance he would be given a punishment worse than death. Luckily for him, the princess took to him quite well, and would even give him time off, since she was told he was a 'servant' and not the truth, a slave.

Iron was easily one of the nicest guys in the whole country, in his time off he went down to the mine and would work there, essentially giving the guys a day off with how much he could do with such ease. We never really talked, which was the main reason I was confused when he picked me up.

"Will, I don't know what you did but they gave us lunch today! When we asked the guys in the kitchen they just said to 'Ask Will' and handed us a letter. That kinda creeped everyone out, cause we thought it might be You, but now you are here! So, what did you do?" He asked while handing me a letter with my name written on the front.

"I have no idea." I answered dumbly, thinking of how I could have in any way earned this as I opened the letter. Something flashed into my mind as I read the letter. It was about a week ago, I was walking along through one of the secret hallways, and then the door opened from the other side as I approached it, and in came the Princess. I froze in absolute terror, the look of fear on her face doing nothing but enhancing mine. "Princess, where did you go?" Called a voice from behind the door she had come in through. She quickly turned around and sped out.

At that moment I knew for sure I was going to die a slow and painful death. I waited day in and day out for a group of guards to come and get me, but they never did. Eventually I figured she didn't say anything.

"Well, what's it say?" Asked Iron.

"The Princess saw me... " I stated, causing several people around me to gasp. "And… Apparently she was… Worried about me…" I said, bringing my free hand up to scratch the back of my head in confusion. As I looked down back at the letter I realized something; I was skinny… I wasn't malnourished, although I probably was, but that wasn't the whole reason for it, I had just always been skinny, and with the diet I was on I had gotten freakishly skinny, to the point where bones were visible throughout more of my body than any creature I knew of.

"Well, that's nice but I think we would all be able to appreciate it better after a good lunch." Iron said, clearly excited, as were the rest of us. We all greedily tore into our food in a manner usually reserved for rabid animals, savoring just enough to sate our taste buds.

"Here's to Will and his freakishly skinny body!" I heard a cry from the crowd. It was meant entirely as a joke, we all knew, but that didn't stop everyone from cheering their agreement. After that meal I became a whole lot more popular at the camp.

"Will, I have an idea." Iron told me, pulling me aside after the meal.

"Yeah, what is it?" I asked curiously.

"Well, I am gonna try getting the Princess to ask her father to let you hang out with her, that way maybe she will start sending more meals our way!" Iron said, surprising me as Iron was not known for his cunning wit and great ability to plan things out.

"That sounds like a terrible idea, you have to try it." I said, dead serious.

"Alright man, tomorrow I will see if I can talk to her about it." Iron said before standing up and leaving.

"Well, let's see how this plays out." I said to myself, standing and making my way over to Steel.

-Time Jump-

"Hey Will, can I ask you a question?" Star asked me, snapping me out of the trance I worked myself into as we watched Night approach our first contact we had found. We were currently sitting on a rooftop nearby where our contact was supposed to meet with Night, while the newest addition to our small group patrolled the ground.

"Yeah, what's up?" I asked curiously.

"Well, back on the boat, before you jumped off, you took your shirt off." She awkwardly and skittishly spoke.

"And?" I questioned, not quite getting where this was going.

"Will, those scars on your back..." She asked.

"What about them?" I asked, still as lost as before.

"How did you get them?"

"Shit happens sometimes. That shit just happened to Me more than most." I answered simply.

She was about to push the subject further, but at that time our contact had arrived. He walked over to where Night was sitting, at a small covered patio of a local outdoor diner, and the two began talking. Though we couldn't hear them talking, we had worked out a subtle 'S.O.S.' signal. Night would grab the salt if she felt threatened, and the pepper if things were about to go south.

Star and I watched intently as the two conversed, as did the ex-guards. So far things were going smoothly with Night and the Pegasus, known as 'Cloud Cruiser'. They seemed to be deep in conversation when Cloud Cruiser picked up a briefcase he had brought with him and slid it towards Night. Night, in turn, passed a bag towards Cloud Cruiser. He briefly looked inside the bag before grinning wildly and standing, shaking Night's hoof before leaving.

Shortly thereafter Night got up and made her way to the alley of the building Star and I were on, before flying up and landing on said roof. She snapped down the briefcase and opened it. Inside it held pictures of places and ponies, as well as a few maps of Vengeance's fort-like house, along with the routes and times of his many guards, among other things.

"Looks like we hit the jackpot." Star states.

"Looks like this trip's gonna be shorter than we thought." I agree.

After that Star did some unicorn stuff and signaled the rest of the group. We all met up a few days later and, thanks to the information We received, were in position to storm Vengeance's house.

"I can't believe how much security this guy has!" I quietly remarked to Star and Night.

"I know, it looks like he's double his security. I don't like it." Star commented.

"I'm gonna go in and get a closer look, You two stay out of sight." I say, shifting into my cloud state.

"Will! Get back here!" Star and Night call to me.

Ignoring her I floated closer, almost completely invisible against the black of the night sky. I was about halfway between our hideout location when I heard a loud ass noise and saw a bright light flash in my eyes before I was knocked unconscious.

-Time Jump-

"Fuck my head" I said to nobody in particular as I woke up.

"Yes, the paralysis spell I used on You tends to have that effect." Said a voice, scaring the hell out of me.

My eyes shot open at the same time I attempted to jump out of the chair I was sitting in only for nothing to happen. Giving myself a brief moment to get my wits about me, I spoke as evenly and calm as I could. "You know all You had to do was ask me to sit still." I said, causing his horn to glow slightly and him to look slightly surprised, much to my confused amusement. "What's with the horn glow?" I asked.

"I also put a lie detector spell on You, and that means You were telling the truth." He said, somewhat dumbfounded.

"So?" I question further, still not completely sure why he was so surprised.

"You would have honestly just sat here if I asked You?" He spoke, though mostly to himself.

"Yeah man, why wouldn't I? You seem like a nice enough guy, and I just woke up. I'm assuming You're someone working for the guy I'm here to kill but that doesn't mean You're a bad guy." I explain to the clearly surprised pony.

"You're something else." He muttered just loud enough for me to hear. "Anyways, You are correct on a few notes. I do work for the pony You are here to kill, and I do like to think of myself as a 'Nice Guy', but I do have to do my job." He replied, motioning to a tray of various knives, pliers, and other torture objects.

"Well, that's gonna be difficult for at least one of us. Any chance I can just talk You out of it?" I asked, doing my best to subdue my nervousness.

"I'm afraid not. I do have to make a living after all, not to mention that Vengeance would have my family and I killed if I were to go against him." He said nonchalantly as he approached the tray and examining his tools.

"I hear ya man, everyone's got a dick boss." I replied. "At the very least could You take off this stupid paralysis spell so I can clench my fists and flail about a little." I ask half jokingly.

"Well I could, but I would also have to bring in a few guards to help monitor the interrogation." He said, surprising me that he genuinely was going to do ask I asked.

"That's alright, I don't mind some guards looking at me get my teeth ripped out by some pliers." I said once again half jokingly.

"The pliers aren't for teeth." The stallion said solemnly as he walked towards the door, causing me to feel a ghost of pain in my privates.

After a few moments of silence the stallion returned with three guards all in black leather armor carrying spears and swords at their sides and along their backs. About that time I attempted to twitch my finger, finding joy as it did as I wanted.

"These guards are under the same instructions I am; hurt, but do not kill. However, accidents are known to happen in these interrogation rooms." Said the stallion as he picked up a pair of pliers.

As soon as he got within range of me I jumped up from my seat and socked him right in the jaw before grabbing him and using him as a shield as I ran directly at the guards. When I got within a few feet I launched the pony at one of the guards, causing him to fall down from the impact, before tackling one of the others, grabbing a sword off of his side before diving away just in time to dodge a blow from the third guard.

Once I made it a safe distance away I turned around to see that the guards, having regained their composure, were now approaching me weapons drawn. I quickly felt my instincts take over as I lunged at the guard farthest to my right, parrying his thrust and driving the blade deep into his chest while my free hand went up to his back and snagged the spear and drove it directly into the back knee of the next pony to my left before I kicked him square in the face, knocking him out.

In this period of time the last remaining guard had ran towards the door and exited the room before I could reach him, however he was in a panic to get away and didn't think to lock it. I made my way out of the room cautiously and started heading down the hall.

"Man I should have tried to find an invisibility spell." I speak to myself as I wander the halls.

As I turn a corner I see a squad of guards walking my direction. As soon as we notice each other we both freeze instantly. "... I'm the new guy?" I speak with a shred of hope it will work, which is quickly crushed as they all draw their weapons and charge me.

Instead of fighting I turn and run down one random stone hallway after another. Eventually I find a room with the words "Slave Holding Bay" painted in red above the door. I open the door and see rows upon rows of cells overflowing with creatures, all of whom shy away from the bars the moment they notice me. I walk deeper into the room, completely forgetting about the squad of guards chasing me.

"Holy shit." I exclaim to myself. As I more closely take in the sights of the room I notice labels above the cells marking which type of slaves are in which, such as "Hard-Labor", "Servants" and, easily the most disgusting of all, "Sex Slaves". I walk over to where the keys to the cells are hung and start doing my best to unlock the cells, ignoring the confused and terrified looks on the creatures faces as I do so. Once I have the last cell open I address the crowd. "Everyone just calm down, I am here to help You. Just follow me and I will do my best to get us all out of here safely. If You have any knowledge of the layout of this building, please come talk to me, other than that let's get going." I say quickly, heading for the door.

There is some slight hesitation, but they quickly begin following me out of the room as a changeling walks up to me at the front of the group. "The way to the exit is just up ahead this way, but it is heavily guarded. There is no way we will get through, even with a group this large many are malnourished or too broken to fight." She says sadly.

"You leave the fighting to me, just make sure nobody gets hurt." I say, despite my steadily growing nervousness.

After a few minutes of walking we come across the exit, and to say it was heavily guarded was an understatement; there were easily 100 guards posted throughout the large metal door.

I quickly rule out any hope of walking out of here unharmed, but, knowing there are too many to take down one by one I go with the best possible option in my eyes; an all out brawl.

"Hey motherfuckers! You lookin' for me?!" I yell, causing every other guard to jump before they all began charging me. I allowed my instincts to take over again and quickly began kicking and punching as many as I could while grabbing their weapons to defend myself. After a few minutes of close calls and a couple dozen definite scars I stand alone among a sea of bodies.

"We're good to go." I say, panting heavily while grasping my very sore arm. "If there are any children, and I pray there aren't, cover their eyes." I say, not wanting children to see the bloody battlefield I had created. The strongest creatures we could get, as well as myself, all pushed as hard as we could on the large metal door, and were able to budge it just enough to fit everyone through.

"Now what?" Asked one of the creatures once we were outside in what appeared to be the middle of a desert.

"Now… We start walking." I say as I begin walking.


	12. Chapter 12

"Fuck. Fuck. Ouch. Fuck." I mumble with each step over the burning hot sands that quickly found its way into my shoes throughout my walk through what was turning out to be unlimited desert.

"Sir, if You would like I could give You a ride on my back for a while to give your feet a rest." Doppel, my earlier changeling guide, offers.

"My name isn't sir, it's Will, and what kind of douche would I be to take a ride from someone who's had a tough life, surrounded by people who have had a tough life, just because I'm a little uncomfortable." I reply, not turning to face Doppel as I speak.

"It is because of You that we have a chance at a better life. Nobody here would think poorly of You for taking a break." She retorted.

"I'm not getting a ride, drop it." I finish, earning a slightly defeated sigh from Doppel.

"... Thank You, for freeing us. I know I speak for everyone else that if You ever need anything You just have to ask, it's the least we can do." Doppel pipes up.

"I opened a door, get over it." I reply before slightly picking up my pace to make some distance from Doppel, who was quickly becoming an annoyance.

"You really ought to be nicer William, She is just trying to be friendly." Discord chimed in, much to my irritation.

'_I'm not in the mood for this Discord.' _I warn him.

"Oh pish posh, it's not like You have anything better to do, being stuck in the middle of nowhere and all." Discord annoyingly replied.

'_... If You weren't so right I would murder You.'_ I give in.

"I'll count my blessings. Anywho, have You considered using that second favor yet?" He asked the question I had been expecting.

'_The more You ask the longer I want to hold onto it.'_ I inform him.

"Oh You humans are sheer evil. Very well then, I will cease my nagging, although You really ought to use it sooner than later so You may enjoy it more, and think through what You want more thoroughly than You would on-the-spot." He explains.

'_I'll think about it, happy? Just quit asking.'_ I reply.

"Well I would love to stick around, but I would hate to interrupt what is about to happen." Discord says before leaving my mind, causing my hairs to stand on end.

I began jerking my head around, looking for what might be headed my way only to see nothing. Assuming that Discord just wanted to scare me, I carried on for a few steps.

"Real funny Disco-" I began before being knocked unconscious by something hitting my head really hard.

-Time Jump-

"God damnit, how often is this going to happen?" I moan to myself, attempting to reach my hand up to rub my sore head only to realize that my hands were in shackles attached to the floor.

"Oh, You're finally awake." A gruff voice spoke from in front of me, which quickly brought me completely to my senses.

Taking a quick glance around the room I was located I instantly recognized the situation I was in.

"Well hello officer. How can I help You?" I asked the pony sitting in front of me.

"To start things off, how about You explain to me why it is You were found leading a small army of missing ponies, griffins and the like towards the city walls?" He asked, doing his best to seem threatening despite his bright pink fur.

"Well, I'm a thousand year old slave of this country who was kidnapped while on a secret mission from an undisclosed country other than this, and before my kidnappers got the chance to torture me I whooped their asses, rescued everyone who were being held as slaves from the large facility they had, and we walked across the desert until I got hit in the head and blacked out." I told the guard sitting across from me, who did not seem to find it nearly as funny as I did.

"Listen buddy, I take my job very seriously, so either You're gonna start talking, or I'm going to make You start talking." He said, once again doing his best to intimidate me.

"Just call the stupid King down here and let me talk to him and I will prove to You I'm telling the truth." I said calmly.

"What makes You think I'd call the King, of all ponies, for You?" He asked, smirking somewhat.

I quickly shifted into my cloud form, letting my shackles fall to the floor, before reforming. "Because if You don't, I'll just walk out of here and You'll get in trouble." I said, smirking as his mouth dropped open slightly.

He quickly left the room and within a couple minutes returned. "The King will be here shortly." He said before leaving the room.

After about 15 minutes of waiting the King showed up at the door. "I had a feeling You were behind this." He hissed at me venomously.

"Just get me the hell out of here." I said, throwing all formalities to the wind.

With a small unintelligible grumble he signaled me to follow him, which I did. We more or less just walked out of the guard barracks and into the street before he left without a word.

"Man it's good to be King." I said to myself as I began walking through the crowded streets.

Pausing for a moment to take in the view of the beautiful city I was in, two questions came to mind. "Where the fuck did all the slaves go, and where the fuck am I?" I asked aloud, causing more than a few wandering ponies to give me some odd looks.

I simply began wandering, knowing that there was no possible chance that I was going to get very far standing where I was. '_Hey Discord, where am I?'_ I thought, waiting for a response I knew I was destined to dislike.

"The important question isn't where, but when." Discord said, much to my confusion.

'_Alright then, when am I?'_ I asked.

"You are in Riyde still, but it has been a little over a week since You were first knocked unconscious. The ponies who captured You the first time put You on some heavy sedatives while attempting to go through your mind for information about where You were from and what your mission was, but none of their unicorns were able to maneuver your psyche well enough to get more than a few words or pictures of simple things." Discord informed me, much to my horror.

'_The team is on their way to Equestria already, aren't they.'_ I said, deflating with each word.

"Yes. They made it to the mainland yesterday. They would have been there sooner but they spent as much time as they could get from the Princesses to look for You." Discord explained.

'_Ugh… I think I might use that second favor soon.'_ I admitted, contemplating the best way to get myself home.

"Oh goody. Just let me know if You need any ideas or anything, living as long as I have with such crazy ideas does in fact have it's perks." He said, much too happily for me to trust him.

After that conversation I spent most of the day just walking around, thinking about what to do while trying to keep Discord from bothering me every five minutes, until finally I had decided on what I wanted to ask for.

'_I got it.' _I thought to Discord.

"It's about time! It's been hours! Plural!" He exclaimed irritatedly.

'_I want infinite wealth.'_ I told him.

"I expected more from You William." Discord admitted.

'_You should know me better.'_ I retorted.

"Very well. Whenever You want or need money simply snap your fingers and however much money You desire will appear in whichever currency You want it to be." Discord explained.

'_Alright, thanks Discord. Keep in touch?'_ I asked; I had somewhat grown accustomed to having a second voice in my head.

"You couldn't keep me away if You wanted to." He agreed, which I figured was true.

"Well, now to figure out a way to get home." I ponder out loud.

"You could probably hire a dragon to fly You home. The Horde isn't too far from here." Discord informed me, much to my appreciation.

"I hate to say it but that does sound like a great idea." I reply as I begin to walk north, towards the Horde, or as I liked to call it; My Home away from Home.

-Time Jump-

"It's good to be back." I spoke, looking around at the various dragons flying through the air and walking around the rough mountain terrain that was the center of the Dragon Horde.

I was currently approaching the lair of the King, Gemstone, the oldest dragon in the Horde, and easily the biggest living thing in the world.

"I believe I have caught a whiff of a familiar scent. William, is that You?" Gem asked as I entered the cave.

"Hey old man, how've You been?" I replied.

"Ahh, it has been too long. I have been doing very well. I take it that You have done so as well?" Gem asked.

It was a larger cave then I had last been here, albeit that was easily a couple hundred years ago. Gemstone sat a couple dozen miles back, much to my appreciation as even at that distance his talking felt like a small tornado. I couldn't make out any of his dark grey scales or the mountains growing from his head that he called horns, I could see nothing but the yellow glow of his eyes, giving him the appearance of what would be the world's largest demon.

"Yeah actually, I got a house out in Equestria and made some friends over there, and I joined the Equestrian Army, that's actually the reason I'm here… Kind of." I explained.

"Hmph. I do not wish to speak of Equestria or it's arrogant leaders. They act as if they own the world rather than their measly land of ponies." Gem explained to me.

"Yeah, they're pretty bad. I'm planning on working with them once I get back." I replied.

"It would be good on them to listen to someone as wise as You. In any case, You mentioned that You were here due to military purposes? I do hope the Princesses are not foolish enough to attempt to use You to persuade me." He questioned.

"Because You know it would work?" I asked.

"If not that, what brings You here?" He dodged the question, causing me to laugh a bit.

"I was in Saddle Arabia on a mission and got captured and drugged, and by the time I woke up and broke out they started on their way home, assuming I was dead." I explained to the massive dragon.

"And You are looking for transportation back to Equestria?" Gem asked as he smiled, allowing his pitch white grin to be seen within the darkness.

"Just like old times?" I asked.

-Time Jump-

"I had no idea You were so well connected William." Discord spoke as I flew through the air at easily twice the speed of sound taking shelter behind a scale on the back of a 10 mile long dragon.

'_What can I say? I'm a people person.'_ I retorted.

Mane Six POV

"It really is a shame when… What is that?!" A terrified Rarity, dressed all in black, asked.

"What is wha-aaaaaaaaa…" Twilight, who was also dressed in black, began before turning around and witnessing a massive beast of a dragon flying towards the town.

"Oh my." Rarity said quickly before fainting, only to be caught by Spike, who wore a black suit, in a panicked effort.

William POV

"Alright man, thanks for the ride. Wanna stick around for a little and scare the crap out of some ponies?" I asked as I slid down Gem's arm and onto the ground of the Everfree.

"As much as I would enjoy that, I fear I must return home. The ponies never do like it when one of our kind comes to their land, especially one as large as myself." He pointed out with a splash of pride at the end towards his massive size.

"Alright man, I'm gonna miss You. Maybe in a couple thousand years when the ponies are a dying race we can come back and mess with Celestia and Luna." I brainstormed.

"Though dark, that does sound like an amazing idea I will look forward to. Until then, goodbye William, I will miss You as well." He chuckled.

"Don't You start crying, You'll flood the countryside." I teased him.

"I can say the same for You." He retorted back as he gently flapped his monster wings and took off into the air, though it still had enough power to send me face first into the dirt.

"I'll get You back for that!" I yelled after him, only to hear him laugh as he flew away.

After that I began making my way into town. Once I reached the end of the brush I saw a small gathering of a few soldiers, including my team, The Princesses, and all of the girls other than Rarity and Twilight, as well as various other ponies. They were all sitting in chairs with a casket up front while Star gave a speech, so I assumed it was a funeral. Not wanting to be rude and interrupt, I made my way over and stood in the back of the gathering, doing my best to keep low and avoid stealing attention.

"He always knew how to make You smile, despite his past. He was one of a kind, and I only wish I could have spent more time with him." Star finished her speech, tears threatening to flow.

Celestia took was the next one up. "When somepony is lost from the world, it is a loss to all those who held them close. My only fear is that so many people held him in such a regard, that the world itself has suffered a loss. He had not only saved lives, he invigorated them." Celestia said.

"Spoken like a true diplomat." I mumbled quiet enough for only myself to hear.

"It is with great sorrow, and a heavy heart that we now bury this wonderful creature, William, or as many of You knew him, Will." She finished, causing me to bust out in a fit of uncontrollable laughter, earning me glances of the meanest looks I had ever seen on a pony.

"W-Will, is that You?!" Applejack asked.

I was too busy gasping for breath from my continuing laughing spree to reply, but I assumed she would figure it out anyways.

"Will! We looked everywhere for You! What happened?! Oh it doesn't matter, You're back now!" Star yelled while lunging on my still laughing form.

"Yay! Dogpile!" Pinkie exclaimed before joining in on the soon to be dogpile as nearly every other person at the funeral joined in.

After everyone had gotten off of me, which admittedly took about three minutes, I stood up and was quickly approached by Commander Steel Fury, Luna, and Celestia.

"Will, what happened to You? We searched every nook and cranny in Saddle Arabia for You!" Commander Steel Fury asked.

"Some guys took me to a secret lab in the middle of a desert, drugged me up so I wouldn't wake up for a long time, and then when I woke up I broke out, saved some slaves, blackmailed the king, and hitched a ride home from Gemstone." I explained, causing everyone who heard it to drop their jaw at one point or another.

All at once a chorus of questions were yelled at me, the but main one was "You know Gemstone?", so I decided to answer that one first.

"Yeah, Gem and I go way back. When I first started working for the Spy Network at a young age, one of my first assignments was in the Horde. Long story short Gem saved my ass and he kind of raised me from then on. He's kind of like the dad I never had, and I'm the son he never had." I explained, earning more than a few 'Awwws' from the crowd.

"If You want more answers, we're doing it at my house. Who all is coming?" I asked, only for every hoof to shoot up into the air.

"Somebody bring food, I want something sugary." I said, eyeing Pinkie Pie specifically. "I'm probably gonna need the energy."


	13. Chapter 13

**That other story did amazing for my writer's block. I will most likely continue to update both of these, most likely at my usual slow, horrible pace due to a couple of things. Anyways, I really hope You all enjoy it, and the other story as well. Hope You enjoy.**

It had been an enjoyably slow week. After I had explained what happened in Saddle Arabia there were a few odd questions and a debate over another medal, which I was thankfully able to dissuade them from giving, I had simply enjoyed life in PonyVille. It was nice just enjoying the sunshine (and the rain at times) and relaxing with the Girls. Currently, I was sitting at the park with the Girls before we went over to finish up that sleepover that I was required to abandon, though this time it was being held at Twilight's place. I had yet to reveal my wealthiness to anypony in an attempt to not only spare myself the countless letters begging for financial help, but to allow myself to become an unknown benefactor to many causes, charities, and simply ponies throughout PonyVille and most of Equestria. Pretty much I just wanted to avoid getting any unwanted attention.

I was currently relaxing under a tree out in the park located in the center of town where the girls were holding a picnic. "Will, are You sure You don't want anything to eat?" Called Twilight.

"I'm good, thanks for the offer though." I replied. Things were really looking up in Equestria, '_perhaps I could get a few people to see that the world outside was almost as good as it was in the Colony.'_ Just as soon as that thought surfaced it disappeared as I remembered what I had just gone through just a week ago.

Seemingly noticing my disapproving look, Rainbow Dash got up from where she was laying down and began walking over towards me. "What's up Dash?" I asked as she got within earshot without me having to yell.

"I don't know, You tell Me." She retorted.

"Just thinking is all." I replied, however she didn't seem to be contempt with my answer.

"Will, ever since You got back from Saddle Arabia You've had a different look in your eyes. I'm not the only one who sees it too, the Girls and Spike all agree… Is there something You didn't tell us?" She asked.

There was something I didn't tell them; the slaves, or what I did to the people holding them captive. It was a story that people, or ponies, could live without knowing. "No Dash, there's nothing going on. Maybe I just have a trick up my sleeve." I said, putting my hand behind her ear and snapping, only to bring back a bit.

"Very funny Will, just know that whatever it is You're hiding, I will find out." She replied, not at all impressed at my magic trick, causing me to frown slightly.

"There are some things that ponies don't need to know." I replied, sighing slightly.

"We're not just ponies, we're friends, and friends don't keep secrets from friends." She said before turning and walking back to the others.

"She's right William, friends don't keep secrets from friends." Discord spoke into my head.

"_Are You keeping secrets from Me?"_ I thought back.

"Well of course I am, what kind of monster would I be if I couldn't even keep a secret?" He retorted.

"_A bad one."_ I replied.

"Precisely. And what good is a bad monster?" He asked.

"_Depends on who You're asking."_ I retorted.

"William, I say this with no deceit in my heart, You should be more open with your friends. They will find out sooner or later, I assure You that, it is just best they hear it from You." Discord spoke before leaving my mind.

Rather than make a smartass remark to the wind I decided to join the Girls.

As I walked up I could overhear some of their smalltalk. "Oh my gosh! You can't be serious!" Rarity gasped.

"One of William's crew told me! I swear!" Rainbow responded.

"Saddle Arabia had slaves?!" Asked Twilight in a hushed tone.

"So did Equestria." I added as I got within a few feet of the group, causing them all to jump.

A resounding chorus of "What?!" Was my prize as I took a seat among them.

"Yeah, it wasn't really what You would think of as slaves but it was unpaid labor nonetheless. Most countries have had slaves at one point or another, it's usually not too bad, like Equestria was easily one of the nicest about it. They had a few rights, and there were laws to protect them, not that they were needed since ponies are so docile naturally, but they were pretty much normal citizens other than the fact that they weren't paid and had a bit more laws to follow." I elaborate in an attempt to ease the tension.

"How come there are no books about it? Not even in the books about History?" Twilight asked, sounding ever so skeptical.

"They're probably all locked away in Celestia's personal library, or in the Royal Storage." I replied.

"Royal Storage?" Twilight asked, quickly dropping the slave topic.

"Yeah, Canterlot Castle has a Royal Storage room, it's where they keep all the fun dangerous stuff. Think of it like an armory, but fancier and cooler and usually way more destructive." I said.

"Well hold on there Pard'ner, jus' how d'You know about it?" Asked Applejack.

"I actually can't tell You that, and You can't tell anyone I know about it." I said nonchalantly.

"What?! Why not?!" Twilight practically yelled, clearly upset this new thing was off limits for study.

"Because I'm not supposed to know, and neither are You. If any of the guard finds out we know about it, we'll probably be thrown in the dungeon." I said.

"That's nonsense, Celestia would never do that to us!" Rainbow exclaimed.

"Well maybe not You guys, but she'd definitely throw me in there for maybe a hundred years or so." I replied.

"Ugh, William why did You tell us this if You knew we couldn't look into it?" Twilight asked, clearly split between asking about the Storage and keeping Me out of the dungeon.

"Because I'm mean. Besides, we'll probably all get into it someday. Celestia has something for all of You in there I am sure, and I will probably tag along just because I am useful and trustworthy or something like that." I said, once again peaking everypony's interest.

"Whadda ya mean by that?" Asked Applejack.

"You'll see, until then, You'll just have to forget about it." I said, earning a very annoyed and angered groan from the entire group, specifically Twilight.

"Well, it's getting late. Should we start heading over to Twilight's place?" I asked, hoping to get their minds off the topic for their sake.

"I'm with Will." Fluttershy squeaked out, clearly not loving how dark the now empty park had become.

"Oh, this'll give me a chance to try out a new spell I've been working on." I said, my arm beginning to glow. Slowly, I closed my eyes and raised my hand up to the moon before mumbling a few words and quickly flicking my wrist down, causing my body to become overcome by shadow and sink into the floor.

"Just hold still." I said as my shadowy self grew massive along the ground before lifting my massive self from seemingly nowhere into reality, earning a shriek from Rarity and Fluttershy as I reached down and carefully picked up the group.

"Will, to say I am impressed would be an understatement!" Twilight exclaimed as I made my way down the street, my feet landing soundlessly on the ground with each massive step.

"Yeah, I'm not 100% on this, but I figure that since Sombre was pretty powerful, and I absorbed his horn, that makes me pretty powerful." I dumbly explained my theory.

"I honestly wouldn't know, the spell the Princesses used on You is ancient, but it does sound possible." Twilight commented. After a minute or two of walking we were at the library. I gently put the girls on the ground and then shrank myself back into my normal size before releasing the shadows from myself and appearing human again.

"Will, what books have You been learning from?" Asked Twilight.

"I think they're called "Dark Moons" and "Nightmares of Discord", they've got some pretty cool stuff in them.

"Will! Those books are very high level shadow books! They're illegal in some countries, including Equestria! How did You get ahold of them?!"

"Sources. Didn't realize they were illegal, but honestly who cares? It's not like I'm evil or anything." I said.

"Will, those spells aren't illegal because they are highly dangerous, which they are, they aren't illegal because they could do great harm to the caster, which they can and often do, they are illegal because every time You use a spell You become less You, and more Shadow. With enough use, You'll become insane! Every report of ponies becoming mad from over-using those spells involves Hallucinations, Paranoia, Anxiety, Bipolarism, and worse!" Twilight exclaimed frightfully, causing the rest of the girls to become equally as scared.

"Well, that sounds horrible. Too bad these spells are so awesome." I said, doing my best to brush off all the horrible things that could, and most likely would, happen to me. "_Why they hell did Star give me those books?"_ I thought to myself.

"WILL! This is serious! You can't use those spells anymore! They're bad for You!" Twilight actually yelled.

"Twilight, I'll be careful, and I'll only use them as a last resort". I said. "_Or for fun"_ I thought.

"We're going to see Celestia about this first thing tomorrow." Twilight said, causing everypony else to nod in agreement.

"Fine, but for now let's just have a good time." I said, not wanting to ruin the slumber party with my potentially degrading mental health.

It was a bit awkward at first, but eventually the girls seemingly forgot about my issues and the party began to liven up and become more easygoing and enjoyable.

The next morning, however, was dreadful. Twilight had written a letter to Celestia while I was sleeping, and we were all woken up to the sound of hooves knocking at the door. Twilight, having already been awake, opened the door and in walked Celestia and Luna. As grumbly and tired as everypony was, they all made an effort to bow before Celestia allowed them to rise.

"William, it has been brought to the attention of My Sister and I that You have obtained some illegal spell books, and have been practicing a few harmful spells." Celestia spoke.

"I'm not giving You the books." I said simply from my comfy spot on the floor as I clutched my pillow tight against my face.

"Will, those books are dangerous, not to mention against the law. We must have them." It was Luna who spoke this time.

"You can have those books when You pry them out of my cold, dead hands." I said in my best 'grumpy old man' voice.

"William," Celestia said before sighing. "At least let us perform a mental health test on You so that we may see what damage has already been done?" She continued.

"Fine. But most of the damage is probably old, not because of some spells." I replied.

"No Will, I am afraid that the damage done by these spells is different. Whereas regular mental illnesses are merely in the mind, the kind of damage provided by the spells is literally viewable as a shadow cast over your mind, a shadow which can be detected by the test we will perform." Luna explained.

After a brief flash both Luna and Celestia seemed to hum in a surprised manner. "Well this is interesting, the shadow seems to be working with your mind rather than against it… This is both disturbing and interesting in and of itself… William, would You kindly cast one of the smaller spells You've learned from the book?" Celestia spoke.

I obliged, casting a small spell that created a shadow over my body and turned me completely pitch black. "Well, this is most odd. It appears that your mind works quite well with the shadows. Given enough useage, You may actually grow stronger rather than weaker." Luna explained.

"But Princesses, how is that possible?" Asked Twilight.

"We're… Not sure, honestly. However, it appears that You may continue to use the spells William, in fact I may go so far as to encourage it." Celestia said.

"Will do, Coach." I said, turning back to my normal self and giving them a thumbs up, still not moving my head from my pillow.

Suddenly, there was another knock at the door. "Will, You in there?" Asked a familiar voice.

"You're shitting Me." I said, quickly jumping from my spot and making my way to the door. "What's the password?" I called.

"The what?" The person on the other side replied.

I quickly threw open the door and lo and behold it was none other than Zeke. "You never called, asshole." He said, grabbing me into a chokehold and giving me a noogie.

"Aww, were You worried about Me?" I replied, struggling to break free of the hold.

"Oh, hello Princesses." Zeke said, letting go of me and bowing.

"Hello Mr. …" Celestia began.

"Zeke Fellow" Zeke finished.

"It is a pleasure to meet You Mr. Fellow." Said Luna.

"Please, the pleasure is all mine." He said.

"Suckup!" I called out as I tackled him to the floor.

"I take it You two know each other?" Rarity asked.

"This dumbass is my buddy, one of the technical geniuses of his day, and this one." I said, still wrestling with Zeke on the floor.

"I'm the reason Will is still alive, and not rotting in a coffin somewhere." Zeke explained.

"Like You would give me a coffin." I retorted.

"You're probably right. A coffin's too good for You." He replied.

"What do You mean by that?" What'd You do to save Will?" Asked Rainbow.

"I'm one of the guys who created the process for extended life, and then I paid for Will to get it. If it wasn't for me he would've died thousands of years ago." Explained Zeke.

Once again a chorus of "What?!"s filled the room.

"Will, how old are You?" Asked Twilight.

"I'm 4006." I said, causing several jaws to hit the floor. "Yeah, I'm old okay? Leave it at that." I continued, which seemed to keep anypony from asking questions about it, at least for now.

"Anyways, as You all probably heard this is Zeke, he's an acquaintance of mine." I said, earning a glare and a laugh from Zeke as we both finally stopped wrestling and stood up, panting and slightly sweating.

"Oh! Are You staying in PonyVille?! Because if You are, I could throw You a 'Welcome to PonyVille' Party!" Pinkie yelled while bouncing amazingly high, causing Zeke to look over to me only for me to wave a dismissive hand towards it.

"Well I'd like to stay, but odds are I won't be able to." Said Zeke.

"Why not?" Asked Fluttershy, who seemed to have finally warmed up enough to speak.

"The colony would fall apart without me." He said.

"Zeke here is the Chief Architect, Technician, Banker, pretty much every job that requires some brains, Zeke is at the top of it." I explained.

"It's not easy being this amazing." Zeke jokingly said.


	14. Chapter 14

**Hey guys, still not dead to many people's surprise. I finally got a chapter down, it's been getting easier with summer coming up, things are cooling down at last. Anyways, that's pretty much all I have to say. Kinda lame, I know, but I hope You enjoy the chapter.**

**Yours truly, ****AHW**

* * *

"So man, what's with the glowy arm tattoo? Lose a bet?" Zeke asked.

"Wouldn't You like to know." I replied jokingly, nose in the air.

"Not even slightly." Said Zeke.

"Well, if You must know, it's what allows me to do this." I exclaimed, levitating a book and throwing it at Zeke, hitting him in the side.

"Do You mean what I think You mean?" Asked Zeke, too astounded to be mad.

"Yeah, the Princesses found some old magic thing and, long story short I'm part Alicorn." I replied.

"No shit?" Zeke questioned.

"No shit." I answered.

"Huh, no shit." Zeke exclaimed.

"Yep." I replied.

"They pull something out of Storage?" Asked Zeke, making Princess Luna and Celestia visibly tense and me groan.

"Damn it Zeke, they are literally right there." I groaned, motioning to the Princesses with one hand and facepalming with the other.

"... Well, it was a pleasure to meet all of You." Zeke said, rising from his seat.

"Not so fast." Celestia said, forcing Zeke back down into his chair.

"How do You know about Storage?" Asked Luna.

"Man I'm sorry, I figured You told them." Zeke told me, instantly causing me to recognize a pressure on my arms forcing me down into my seat as well.

"William?" Asked Celestia.

"I'd like to point out that this is technically a hostage situation and illegal." I said.

"Don't be smart with us, how do You know about Storage?" Luna said venomously.

"When You live as long as I have, You get in a few places You aren't supposed to." I said.

"You mean You've been INSIDE Storage?!" The Princesses cried in shock.

"Umm… No?" I tried, only to receive a dangerous glare from both Princesses.

"Okay, so there were a few times when I was-" I began, only to be cut off.

"A FEW TIMES?" I was pretty sure Luna and Celestia were about to have simultaneous heart attacks.

"Anyways, back in the day when You two were young and new on the job I decided to check out our neighboring nation's rulers. Zeke was back in the Colony, he doesn't know much other than the vague description I gave the Girls." I said, effectively putting off a large amount of focus onto the poor girls.

"You guys have got some cool stuff down there." I continued, doing my best to split their attention as best as I could, and spare the girls as much as possible at the same time.

"William, You do realize what We must do now, don't You?" Asked Celestia angrily.

"I know exactly what You should do, but I also know that's not what You're going to do." I replied.

"And how's that?" Asked Luna.

"Because if You hurt us, well, mainly Zeke, but he will let people know back in the Colony and we will destroy Equestria." I explained.

"You Humans have always been cocky, but I must give You credit this time William." Celestia laughed softly.

"He's not wrong. We've got enough power currently to destroy the planet three and a half times." Zeke backed me up nonchalantly. "I should know, I'm in charge of it." He added with a sly smile.

Now, to say Celestia and Luna were scared, regardless of whether or not they believed me, was immediately an understatement when Zeke chimed in.

"What kind of power could do such a thing?" Asked Celestia.

"That's for us to know, and You too hopefully never find out." Zeke smiled as if he didn't just threaten two of the 'Most Powerful', more like third or fourth, rulers in the world.

There was a dead silence throughout the room, out of disbelief and shock on the Equestrian side, and calm patience from that of Zeke and I. If I didn't know any better I'd have laughed my ass off just from how the whole situation played out, but I figured, with things as they are, the last thing anyone wants is for them to not believe us and get Equestria and it's inhabitants wiped off the map.

After a good two or three minutes the weight lifted from my shoulders and I stoop from my spot, Zeke doing the same. "So, should we go check out Storage?" I asked with a big shiteating grin on my face.

-Time Jump-

"How did it come to this?" Asked Celestia as we stood in front of the massive steel door heavily guarded with various deadly enchantments.

Zeke and I, and by that I mean Zeke, since only he had the authority, called in and had a Nuclear Arms Count update so that the Princesses could hear from somebody not about to die how true our words were, and so then we all headed to the Castle.

"Would You like to do the honors, or may I? I asked the Princesses in reference to the door.

"We would like to see how it is that You got inside." Luna said, Celestia nodding in agreement.

"With pleasure." I said, cracking my knuckles. I made my way to the massive door of death and destruction slowly, and once I reached it I walked over to the side and placed my hand on the pillar. The enchantments instantly shut down and the massive door swung wide open right in front of my audience, who now all stood mouths agape.

"H-h-how?" Is all Celestia managed to stutter out.

"Still think Magic is better than Technology?" I chuckled as we all walked in, with me in the lead now. "Back when you were about yay tall," I put my hand up about two feet off the ground. "You two left this monster wide open for, like, three days. In that time I was able to rig up and install my own little personal bypass." I replied.

"Will, I grow more and more impressed with You as time goes on." Zeke said.

"I know." I said plainly.

We were currently walking down a long hallway filled with pedestals varying in size and shape holding hundreds of thousands of items each more powerful than the last. I made a point of pointing out my favorites.

"This one right here switches genders." I said, pointing to a statue of a split heart, one half blue and the other pink. "This one summons a genie who grants wishes." I said, pointing to a lamp. "I think this one is my personal favorite. It allows the user to travel back in time for periods of five minutes at a time, with a cooldown of one hour." I said.

"William, how do You know this much?" Asked Luna.

"When You find yourself in a room full of some of the most powerful things ever, You can't help but touch a few." I replied.

"You are very lucky to still be alive." Celestia said, obviously somewhat annoyed.

"Barely. This one," I commented, motioning to a red glowing rock with holes throughout it. "Lights whoever touches it on fire for half an hour." I finished.

"How did You survive that?" Rainbow asked.

"This one," I said, motioning to a golden sphere next to it, "makes whoever touches it unable to die for as long as it is held. Kind of like rapid regeneration." I explained. "But don't overestimate it, You still feel everything." I continued, earning a few disgusted and sorrowful looks.

After that we got to the end of the room and saw fourteen pedestals set apart from the rest. "These bad boys some of You might recognize." I said, drawing attention to the fourteen pedestals. Six held what appeared to be a statue with a recreation of the Elements of Harmony, six more with similar statutes but more warped and twisted, along with crueler recreations of the Elements, and two that followed the same pattern as the others but with a design nobody recognized.

"What are those? They look like the Elements of Harmony!" Twilight exclaimed as each girl drew closer to their respective pedestals.

"I never figured that out, they wouldn't do anything for me, but I figured You girls would like to know about them." I replied.

"Those allow the Elements of Harmony to transfer between their pure and impure forms. They were created with the Elements, Luna and I experimented on them one time and one time only. They caused the Elements of Harmony to become vile, evil artifacts that spread corruption into the world rather than harmony." Celestia explained.

"But Princess, what are these two for? I don't recognize the symbols." Twilight questioned, drawing all attention towards the two unique statues.

"Those ones were crafted by Discord. It was his first act in this world, to add another element. The Element of Chaos. There has yet to be an artifact found such as the Elements of Harmony, but I still fear it may be out there, however unlikely such a thing is." Luna explained.

"Yeah, we've got that one in the Colony." Zeke spoke up.

"It's at the center on a little pedestal of it's own." I continued, smiling. "Having been alive as long as I have, it's pretty easy to see how much it has influenced us. It's created mental disabilities that were never before seen and untreatable, but over time we've grown somewhat of a resistance to it. Only a few newborn children a decade ever suffer from them, and they are quickly sent to the Institution." I explained.

"You know, that actually makes a scary amount of sense Will, why haven't You ever said anything to anybody? We should've gotten rid of that a long time ago!" Zeke asked angrily.

"I brought it up dozens of times early on, but nobody would believe me, so eventually I just quit bringing it up. Besides, it's not like it really does anything anymore. What do we get, one, maybe two kids to the Institution a decade? Better we just keep it than let it out into the world to wreak havoc." I explain.

Zeke let out a sad sigh. "I guess You're right. It just sucks that such a thing exists." He said.

"William, if we were to bring it here I am sure we could revert it to it's pure state of order." Celestia spoke.

"Not gonna happen. I've seen chaos, and it's not the best, but we've endured. If You suddenly bring in the existence of pure order and expect no downsides You'd be kidding yourself." I replied.

"And You agree with this Zeke?" Asked Celestia.

"Don't try and fix what isn't broke." Zeke replied with a sigh.

"Very well then." Celestia concluded, somewhat saddened.

"Hey so I have an idea." I spoke up.

"No." Everyone in the room told me at once.

"So You know that one Alicorn Amulet?" I asked, Celestia and Luna to look slightly horrified, ahead of the rest of the group.

"William, We-" Luna attempted to chime in before I cut her off.

"If the evil dark magic stuff I do is good for me, maybe, just maybe, I should try that on for a little." I continued. There was a moment of silent contemplation that shocked even me, but I was too excited by the prospect of trying it out to show them anything to dampen my chances.

"Well… Perhaps it wouldn't hurt for a little bit, as a test run so to say." Luna spoke first.

"Sister! Are You actually saying that-"

"Yes. William has been very useful to us, and to the Nation of Equestria, I think we should have enough faith in him to allow him a testrun, if nothing else." Luna said.

"Pleeeease Celestia! Imagine how much research I could perform on it with a stable host!" Twilight's inner scholar spoke up.

"... I suppose it would be alright, but only for long enough to see if it is influencing You." Celestia gave in, earning a cheer of enthusiasm from the crowd as we made our way towards the pedestal that held the dangerous artifact. I quickly went to grab it and put it on, but Celestia chimed in.

"William, perhaps we should do this test somewhere less… accommodating?" She said, using a hoof to motion towards the oodles of dangerous artifacts at my potential disposal.

"Can't argue with that." I said as we all made our way back to the door. Within five minutes we were all within a large forest of a garden.

"Well, here goes nothing." I said, placing the necklace over my head and around my neck. My eyes instantly shot wide open at the immense power that suddenly flowed through my body. It was so intense I almost fainted, stumbling back slightly and nearly falling over.

"William, are You okay?" Luna asked questioningly as the group as a whole backed away slightly.

"I'm fine, just… this is REALLY strong… Hard to-" I spoke before being interrupted from within my own mind.

"Ahh, another host, at last! It will not be long until you are nothing but my puppet!" It spoke within my head.

"So have any of You tried this on?" I asked, as everyone nodded that no one had. "Well there's a voice… kind of annoying, but not harmful yet…" I told them.

"_Nice to meet You too. Can I help You with anything?_" I asked it internally.

"You have already helped me more than You know, silly mortal." It replied, laughing evilly at the end.

"_You know I could just take the necklace off…_" I retorted.

"That is what You think, go ahead and try to, I'm sure You will find it most-" The voice was cut off as I took off the necklace.

"This thing is really cocky." I said before putting it back on.

"How did You do that?! Nothing has ever been able to disobey my orders!" It practically screamed, clearly shaken.

"_You might want to do some sightseeing real quick._" I replied, giving it a moment.

"How are You so adapted towards chaos? Wait… I sense something… It couldn't be!" The voice spoke, becoming more panicked as time went on.

"_Is it the shadows in my mind, Sombre, or the corruption from the Element of Chaos that is slowing You down?_" I asked jokingly.

"NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!" Was my only reply, causing me to laugh.

"Guys, I think I have this thing under control." I said.

"How sure are You?" Asked Luna, clearly a bit surprised.

"I WILL KILL YOU!" The voice shouted.

"I'd bet my life on it." I replied to the group.

"Well, that is… fascinating would be an understatement… Either way, I would like to keep You in an observation room for at least one week." Luna said.

"You are pathetic! How can You best me?!" The voice spoke, clearly aggravated.

"_Because I've been exposed to more chaos than You can muster?_" I replied.

"IT WAS A RHETORICAL QUESTION!" The voice screamed back.

"_Well, on the bright side, we are going to have a lot of time over the next eternity to talk through your problems._" I responded.

"Alright, lead the way coach." I said as I was blindfolded and lead into a room.

"Hey, so if things get bad, though honestly I don't see that happening, place this key on the door to storage, it will cancel the bypass. But, at the same time, if things go smoothly and You still use it, I will break that door down when I need to get in." I told them.

"... Very well…" Celestia said, taking the key.

"Have a good week everyone." I said, waving as the large metal enchanted door swung shut.


	15. Chapter 15

**Hey guys, sorry about my constant delay of posting these chapters, I honestly resent myself for it, but I hope the product is worth the wait. I plan on updating more often (Again) but, as most of you are likely painfully aware, I don't tend to hold myself to that standard. Anyways, long story short, I hope you enjoy.**

\- AHW

* * *

The first few days were pretty slow on account of the voice being virtually silent aside from an occasional outburst due to my constant bugging it. It was the fourth day that was interesting. I had been testing my newfound power, at the Princess's request that is, and the voice said something unexpected.

"William." I heard a weak voice say, jolting me awake. I looked around my room only to find it empty as ever. I was about to fall back asleep when the door opened, grabbing my attention even more. By this point I was already on my feet when _It_ walked into the doorframe. There really wasn't any other way to describe what I was seeing as anything other than an "It". It was what could only be described as the darkest black I had ever seen. It's eyes, however, could only be described as pure white. Not a glowing, incandescent white, but rather a plain white, as if there was literally nothing there.

It's body, to give such an odd shape a name, was about a foot or so shorter than me but easily twice as wide, it's shoulders jutting out of it's torso a good six inches before dropping off into it's… arms… which were more easily described as a group of tentacle like beings all wrapped around one another somehow ending in impossibly thin and clearly sharp claws. The legs were just hulking muscular pillars holding up a torso to match, only warped and indented; if I knew better I would I would swear I could make out ribs nearly jutting out of the skin, among other things.

Just looking at it was giving me a headache due to the seemingly impossible colors, and the sheer intimidation of it's presence was enough to have me shivering. It stood there in the doorway motionless for a good five minutes, causing me to do the same just praying it didn't approach me. After those five minutes, however, it just turned around and left. I quickly took off the necklace and threw it across the room before running up to the doorway to see where It was going, but as soon as I arrived at the door it slammed shut and I could hear it locking.

Princess Celestia POV

"I sure hope He's okay." Luna said as we quickly made our way to William's holding cell. We had been informed that there was the sound of crying from William's cell, and as much as I would enjoy seeing that man show some emotion, he is with the amulet, and I fear something may have happened to him.

"Open the door, now." I order one of the guards at the entrance. Inside was William, sobbing like a maniac in the far corner with his head in his hands facing the wall, away from the door. The Amulet was laid out in the middle of the floor.

"William?" Luna asked quietly, causing William to freeze all at once in a manner that was honestly startling. He slowly turned his head and when we finally saw his face it was as if he was expecting to see Death himself at the door. Upon realizing it was Luna and I he sprung from his seat and in the blink of an eye was buried between our manes, hugging them as tightly as he could. At this point I was genuinely terrified, not only that William, who I had only ever known as stoic at best, was sobbing wildly, but that we had left him in that room with an evil artifact that not even Luna or myself were trusted with.

I felt Luna poke my side to get my attention without disturbing William, and upon looking where she had pointed I grew sick. There was blood on the floor, William's no doubt. It was pooled in the corner he was sitting in and followed his path towards us in the form of footprints.

Luna mouthed to me "We need to calm him down." and I nodded my head in agreement.

I cast a spell on William to allow him some rest, as there was no doubt he was tired after staying up most likely all night crying and terrified. I carried William to my personal chambers while Luna disposed of the Amulet.

"What did you see?" I couldn't help but ask his slumbering form.

William POV

"Mmmm." I sighed as I awoke, taking in the delicious smell of something I couldn't quite place my finger on.

"William, are you alright?" A familiar voice asked.

"Alright? Why wouldn't I be alri-NO!" I yelled, springing from the comfortable bed I was laying on.

"William, please, you are safe here." Celestia's reassuring voice told me, centuries of practice easily melting away my panic. Upon seeing that I had visibly calmed down, she continued.

"William, we found you this morning in your cell huddled in a corner sobbing like a madman, your feet were covered in bloody cuts, and you were clearly terrified. What happened last night?" Celestia asked.

"It… I just… There was a thing…" I said dumbly.

"What kind of thing?" Celestia asked, clearly interested.

"A… a shadow, a demon, something I've never seen, or even heard of… it was horrible… it said my name, and opened the door…" I said, a faraway gaze appearing in my eyes as I recalled the previous night.

"William, we had guards stationed at the door all night and they reported no such thing." Celestia told me.

"It happened Celestia, I don't know what it was or how it did what it did, but it happened." I retorted.

"Anyways William, what happened after that?" She asked.

"It just… stood there… it must've been five minutes, if not more… just staring with those empty eyes… And then it left, and when I tried to follow it the door slammed shut and locked." I continued.

"And your feet?" Celestia questioned.

"After that I took the necklace off and threw it across the room, I stomped on it over and over, cutting my feet with each fall of my foot. But it wasn't me… it made me do it…" I finished, recalling the painful memories.

"What made you do it?" Celestia asked.

"... Whatever I saw last night… I don't know how I know, but I know it was real… and it's not going to leave…" I said, and suddenly the magical lights in the room flickered off, causing Celestia to look questioningly around the room and me to dive towards her in an attempt to save myself in case anything actually did happen… But nothing did…

"Those lights haven't done that since… since…" Celestia seemed to freeze, panic quickly flowing onto her face.

"Celestia?" I asked, waving a hand in front of her face, though she remained frozen. I turned to look at where she was looking but there was nothing, the room was empty. And then she screamed. Guards swarmed the room by the dozen, weapons pointed at me in the blink of an eye, but after it was clear Celestia wasn't looking at me they became confused.

The lights suddenly flickered on again, causing many of the guards to jump, and then Celestia slowly and shakily stood from her seat, the panic on her face making no attempt to leave.

"Princess, what happened?" Asked a guard in purple embroidered armor.

"It… it was nothing, just a spell William and I were practicing that took a turn for the worse." Celestia covered.

"Are you sure Princess?" Asked the guard.

"Yes Captain, I am sure. Thank you all for your worry, and must I say that I am impressed with how quickly you all responded.

"Just doing our job Princess." The Captain replied, smiling slightly as he, and every other pony in the room, left.

"Celestia, what actually happened?" I asked as she let out a heavy sigh.

"I saw it." She said, a quiver in her voice.

Rather than say anything I just hugged her, which seemed to help her relax a bit.

"I know what it is." She said suddenly, instantly catching my attention. "We need a meeting, I will summon the Element Holders and Luna, I hope it has yet to visit her. She said as we left the room.

-Time Jump-

It took about a half an hour, but the Girls, Spike, Celestia, Luna and I were in the Throne room, along with my Amulet. Celestia had yet to explain anything to me, but I assumed she was waiting for everyone to arrive.

"Princess Celestia, why did you call us here?" Twilight asked, causing Celetia to sigh.

"He's here." Celestia said. Luna's eyes went wide, but the girls and I were left with confusion plastered on our faces.

"Who's here Princess?" Twilight questioned.

"The darkest night, the monster under every bed, what every colt fears." Luna recited.

"The Boogeyman." Celestia finished.

"Wait… the Boogeyman?" Asked Twilight.

"You're welcome." I exclaimed.

"William, you know about the Boogeyman?" Asked Twilight.

"Well we are kind of responsible for him… Never seen him in real life though…" I replied, shivering at the memory.

"Wait a sec, how are y'all 'responsible' for 'im?" Asked Applejack.

"May I?" I asked, looking towards Celestia and Luna, who nodded their consent.

"The Boogeyman was an idea created by humans… really just because we're assholes. When a child steps out of line, instead of attempting to reason with them and explain what they are doing that is wrong, we just told them that the Boogeyman would get them. It was pretty hilarious when it started out, but… well, let me first say that the only truths in life are those we believe, and when enough people believe in something-" I started.

"It becomes a truth. It becomes real." Twilight concluded.

"So, once again, you are welcome." I finished.

"But if it was made to attack children, why is it here?" Asked Rarity.

"Well, the thing about humans is that things get worse with time. We're real funny like that. The Boogeyman went from the child-behavior enforcement to a sort of Demon. It hunts, it tracks, and it does not fail at what it does." I explained.

"What does it to?" Asked a pale-looking Fluttershy.

"Nobody knows, but if it finds you then nobody else ever will." I replied.

"Then how come you and Celestia are still here?" Asked Twilight.

"It's a warning." Celestia took over.

"And until he shows himself to Luna, we are safe, but as soon as that happens, the games are on." I elaborated.

"What about us?" Asked Rainbow Dash

"We hope and pray to whatever we can that it doesn't pick you girls up." I told her, causing several of the girls to become visibly frightened.

"Now if it does see you, there is no telling what form it will take. It is literally a manifestation of fear, so it doesn't exactly hold a shape, but you had better believe it can use it's physical bodies." Luna chimed in. By this point all of the girls were visibly shaking.

"Oh, and by the way this thing will probably show up at night, but once it's given it's warnings, well, it's purely a nocturnal hunter." I warned.

"I should probably take that Amulet back for this, even if it is evil." I informed the Princesses, who both nodded in agreement.

"So, what are we going to do?" Asked Rainbow Dash.

"Well, you can call me Cinnamon Buns and get your sleeping bags here stat, because there is no way in hell you are going through this alone if he's caught onto you." I said.

"You're Cinnamon Buns?" Asked Rainbow.

"You bet your sweet ass I am." I replied, causing everybody to facepalm and groan.

After that Luna and Celestia took the liberty of teleporting everyone's stuff into the castle, and the guards were all alerted that if they saw a being of pure nightmare fuel to waste no time telling everyone and getting to us as soon as possible, so the day was going great, the evening however, was another story.

"So… what's the plan to kill this thing?" Twilight asked as we all sat in the Throne room with as many lights as possible.

"There is one spell that Luna and I know, it will not kill it, but it is how our parents taught us to keep it away for a long, long time." Celestia said.

"And I'm just here because I'm not dying alone." I piped up, causing a few of the girls to shuffle uncomfortably in their seat.

"IT'S AFTER ME!" Came a screaming guard who burst in through one of the many open doors to the room.

"This night is going to be just-" I began before being cut off by the lights flickering off in the room.

"It's here." I warned everyone.

"Tia... hold me." Luna spoke very quietly, squeezing her sister's arm so tight it would more than likely break a normal pony in half. This continued for a good two minutes, Luna shrieking and making more terrified and terrifying noises before the lights flickered on once again and it was calm once more.

"Is that it? Is it coming for us?" The guard asked.

"You'll know when it's coming for us long before it gets here." I replied. "Just then.

"SAAAAAVE MEEEE!" The second guard of the night came running in.

"You two do realize everyone who is in this room at the end of the night deserves a promotion, right?" I asked the Princesses, both of whom silently nodded. There was a loud thud down the hall.

"Was that it?!" Asked Fluttershy from behind her mane.

"No, it's a laugh, not a thud… I'm not sure what that was… Any volunteers to go check it out?" I asked the group only for no reply.

"Well don't everyone jump up at once." I exclaimed as I got up.

"Where are you going?" Asked everyone in the group simultaneously.

"Someone could be hurt, the hunt isn't on yet, and I've already been given my notification, I'm going to go check it out." I replied, leaving the room despite the shouts and cries of the others.

As I walked through the hall I saw the definite source of the sound, and I could not have been more terrified at the same moment I saw it; it wasn't something falling down, it wasn't something being slammed, it was a statue of a sack etched out of marble, but the entire thing seemed alive somehow. I decided not to wait, and instead booked it back to the home group.

"He's got the bag." I spoke aloud as I entered the room once again.

"The bag?" Twilight asked.

"Don't ask." I replied, noting that Celestia seemed to know what I was talking about but Luna had the same quizzical look as Twilight.

"If you see a bag though… Don't run. Don't walk, don't move, don't do anything." I finished.

"Why not?" Asked Twilight.

"Nobody who lives to tell the tale knows, but we know it isn't pretty." I answered. At that moment Pinkie Pie's hair flattened, it lost some of it's brightness, and the lights flickered off. Aside from the hair shift Pinkie seemed unfazed by whatever she was seeing, and if I were an honest man I'd even go so far as to say she smiled, needless to say I will never trust that mare's mental health.

The lights flickered back on relatively quickly and Pinkie's hair poofed back up immediately, scaring me almost as bad as the Boogeyman himself.

"Well, it appears he might have taken an interest in you girls." Celestia said as all eyes were on Pinky.

"Well, we are pretty interesting, we're the Elements of Harmony after all!" Pinkie exclaimed in her usual bubbly voice which only made me question her sanity that much more.

"How many more do you think he's going to say hello to before the games begin?" I asked Celestia.

"Honestly I'm not sure, but I'd like to think not many; I'd hate too many of My Little Ponies to have to witness him." She admitted.

"Very true. If only we could lure him in here." I thought outloud.

"William you pathetic fool, listen to me and listen well." The Amulet spoke up.

"The Boogeyman is drawn largely to those who are asleep, or in extreme distress. You could easily draw him to a hunt if you got enough sleeping or distressed, or both if possible, in a single location." The Amulet said.

"Why tell me this?" I asked.

"I do not with to be alone on a pedestal anymore, and as you are my only viable option I am willing to lend my knowledge in exchange for companionship." It admitted.

"Well, as long as you are at least tolerable I'm cool with having you around… Sorry about stomping you, I really didn't have control of my body when it happened." I apologized.

"William, you do have a situation at hand don't you?" It responded.

"Right, my bad. Nice to have you on the team though." I replied.

"Guys, if we can get enough people asleep or in states of distress, preferably both, we can lure him out." I told the group.

"And you know this how?" Asked Luna, already charging up a spell.

"We're on the same page now." I replied, tapping the Amulet.

"Very well, I apologize everypony, but I am going to give you all nightmares in an attempt to lure him out, I promise to wake you as pleasantly and quickly as possible." Luna said in a way that almost sounded as if she were asking.

Before anypony could object, though I highly doubt any would, she cast the spell and everyone other than Celestia, Luna, and I were asleep, and it was clearly evident that they were not enjoying their dreams.

A moment after the spell was cast a deep, menacing laughter filled the room as the lights, rather than flicker off, faded to a deep black that seemed to flood the room with shadows.

"William, this spell will take Luna and I a minute to prepare, until then we need you to distra-" Celestia began before freezing as a certain abomination entered the room from the main door. I assumed it was different for each of us, but for me it was the same demon as before, only this time it's mouth was wide open in a smile, revealing a seemingly infinite tube of grinding, serrated, deep-grey teeth sharpened to a point. There was a thud behind me, and as I looked back I saw Luna kneeling beside Celestia, who had apparently fainted.

"Oh she so owes me." I exclaimed, facepalming.


	16. Chapter 16

**I suck. Here's a short chapter to prove it. Sorry. - AHW**

* * *

"So… Mr. Boogey, it's a pleasure to finally meet you." I began in a sad, half assed attempt to stall for Luna to wake Celestia up. Right as I said that, it reached down it's throat and pulled out an old torn up bag covered in tears and rips in the fabric.

"William, if I wake Celestia, I will not have enough energy left for the spell." Luna told me, pretty much crushing all hope.

"Could I do it?" I asked.

"The spell takes a bit, not long per say, but enough that I would be worn out having to stall for you." Luna replied as I attempted to keep my body from shaking.

"William, if you do manage to win this, you will have my respect." The Amulet said. At this point I glanced over at the Boogeyman, who was, of course, laughing at the whole scenario in a terrifyingly childish manner.

"Well, at least someone is enjoying this." I said as my mind raced for any idea of how to, at the very least, not die a brutal death... Or something somehow worse.

"It's such a shame you decided to use your favor for silly wealth." Discord mocked me.

"Not the time Discord." I replied, watching the still laughing Boogey Man.

"William, there is a way you could potentially defeat him." The Amulet spoke up.

"How?" I asked frantically as the Boogey Man had stopped laughing and was now slowly moving throughout the room.

"If the Boogey Man is rendered incapable of absorbing fear, which works as it's fuel for existence, then it will cease to exist." The Amulet spoke up.

"Sounds like a sweet deal, considering everyone is afraid of it." I replied, watching the terrifying freak of nature with wide eyes.

"In this dimension, yes, but in another, perhaps there will be nobody to be afraid other than yourself." The Amulet replied.

"So… I need to go to another dimension with this thing? How?" I asked, not so much as blinking.

Suddenly I could feel… something, for lack of a better term, move from my body into… somewhere else… I could also see the Boogey Man's disturbing eyes grow slightly wider, as if panicked, as he began running at me. As soon as he was no more than ten feet away there was a flash of light and both the Boogey Man and I were no longer within the palace, but rather in a field of red grass that shattered like glass as I landed upon it, crunching under my feet.

"The fuck." I spoke outloud in my shock and awe of the place. There were clouds overhead that appeared to be made of liquid gold against the otherwise pitch white sky. Other than that there was nothing to be seen.

I would have enjoyed the sights a bit longer… or lack thereof that is, but the Boogey Man bellowed out a gut wrenching howl, shaking me to my bones. As I looked at him, it appeared he was smiling his awful smile, but thankfully he didn't appear to have the bag. I couldn't feel the presence in my head from the Amulet, which caused me to panic instantly, and that panic was only furthered by the revolting growths that now sprouted from the Boogey Man. They appeared to be large bulbous orbs, each holding the image of some of my worst memories.

I turned and ran. I needed to buy time to calm myself down, but the faster I ran the louder his footsteps grew, and as I glanced over my shoulder I saw that he was rapidly growing in size with each step.

"Wait a minute." I said as I froze in place, only to hear the footsteps behind me stop as well.

"If I'm the only one here to fear him, when I die, he dies too." I thought, which caused me to laugh. And I continued to laugh as I turned around and made direct eye contact with the Boogey Man. It wasn't a maniacal laugh, and it wasn't a chuckle, it was just a simple laugh, the kind of a child who just saw something funny. And then the confidence struck. I began walking towards Him, laughing all the while.

I could see him begin to shrink slowly as the growths covering his body began popping and releasing a type of shadowy mist, much like my own. "Now it's your turn to run." I said. I broke into a sprint towards Him. He was too shocked to move and I collided with his shin, which was large enough to encompass my entire body as I became absorbed in the black goo.

I could feel Him. Not just the goo, but the twisted soul that was responsible for it. He was scared, and sad. Not what I had expected. I attempted to reach out to the sadness, and quickly my mind was filled with images and memories that weren't mine.

And then I saw her.

She was… young, to start with. Pale and thin too. She had jet black hair and deep blue eyes… And she was human. I couldn't hear anything, but something told me this was the first one. She was the first one to be taken.

She was crying, I could see the tears and the trembling, but again there was no sound, but I could hear her.

"... You're here to end it, aren't you." She asked, not moving.

I didn't respond.

"Sometimes, the world needs a Monster." She replied.

"I know." I said, stepping up to her. "I'm it." I continued, conjuring up a spell in my hand.

I lifted my hand and placed it on my chest as black veins slowly began sprouting throughout my body. It was fascinating to watch the dark veins spread, like a painless disease. As they spread farther and farther across my body she slowly began to panic, and eventually resorted to clawing at my skin with her fingernails uselessly; I couldn't feel anything anyways.

As I felt the veins reach my eyes my vision cut out, next to go were my legs as I collapsed into the darkness around me. My lungs suddenly stopped, and my throat seized up, suddenly becoming very tight. I could still hear her clawing at my skin, that is up until my hearing was lost. And there I was, numb, and alone, dying in a strange new world at my own hand while a demon attacked my body. There was a sense of comedic justice I could feel, and yet I couldn't place my finger on it.

And with that I was gone. It wasn't some out-of-body experience, and there was no bright shiny light, but there also wasn't darkness. There was nothing, myself included. I didn't exist, I couldn't even be upset, I was nothing surrounded by nothing, it was all just one big nothing. To say the least, it was far from the worst thing that happened to me.

But, nothing good lasts forever, and eventually I came back to the world of the living, wrapped in bandages with more needles than I care to count stuck in me. That didn't last long; not a needle person. As I began carefully but quickly pulling needle after needle out of my body I felt sore, but not in too much pain, so I made my way out of the hospital bed I was in. I figured it was probably reserved for Celestia or Luna considering that I fit in it fairly comfortably.

"Welcome back William." The Amulet said.

"They let me keep you on?" I asked.

"They were very scared to see you in the state you were in, and so they allowed me to stay in hopes that I would work towards saving your life." He replied.

"Did you?" I questioned.

"Begrudgingly." It said simply.

"Fair enough." I replied, and it was left at that.

We sat there like that for a while, just enjoying the silence. After a few minutes though, I realized that I had the perfect opportunity to avoid getting more needles stabbed into me and promptly left. As I exited the room, however, I couldn't help but laugh in my head.

"Evening." I spoke to the guards stationed outside of my door.

"Evening." He replied nonchalantly at first, before his hoof shot to his helmet in a salute. "Evening, Sir." He corrected himself.

"You had it right the first time, Silly." I said as I began walking away, turning back to wave at him as I left. And of course, he started following me immediately.

"Sir, I was tasked with keeping you inside of your room in the event that something like this happened." He informed me.

"You are doing a wonderful job." I retorted, not turning back to face him.

"I am also supposed to inform you that in the case of your premature leave of the room you shall be punished by Celestia herself." He continued.

"Well, sounds like your job is done." I replied, turning and heading down another long ass hallway.

"Sir, Celestia strongly advises you to stay in your room, and frankly so do I." He spoke again.

"I strongly advise you to head back to your station outside my door so you can at least seem surprised by my disappearance." I advised him. He was quiet for a few moments before turning around, most likely heading back to his station. After that I continued on my way, earning an occasional glance from a passing pony, though none cared enough to bother me much to my appreciation.

"William." I heard a familiar voice come from the upcoming hallway.

"Luna." I responded as the Mare herself walked into view.

"Glad to see you're awake and rebellious as ever." She replied.

"Not rebellious, just not a fan of bullshit." I said, shocking her at least a little bit if the look on her face was anything to go by.

"Well, in any case, I am here to strongly advise you to-" She began.

"No." I responded, turning the corner as she began walking along side me.

"Good. I'd much rather you tell me about what happened last week." She replied, causing me to stop in place.

"Last week?" I asked.

"The night of the Boogey Man." She said.

"He's gone." Discord chimed in.

"He's no longer an issue." I replied, continuing walking.

"William, you are taking this in a dangerously positive way, are you alright?" Questioned Discord.

"It could've been worse. I could've lost." I answered.

"What do you mean? Is he gone? Forever?" Luna asked.

"Yes." I responded simply.

"Well… Then it appears we have another matter to discuss." Luna replied slowly.

"Which is?" I asked.

"Where did you go, and how?" I actually didn't know how to answer this one.

"William, it appeared to me that what sent you to… wherever you went, was the same sort of power that brought the Boogey Man into creation." The Amulet spoke up.

"Just call it random chance and assume I don't know shit, because I really don't." I told Luna.

"Comedic Justice." I thought to myself.

"Yes… Well, I shall inform Celestia, but first, there is one last thing." She said, pulling a bag out of… Well, somewhere. But it wasn't any ordinary bag.

"Why the shit do you have that?" I asked, stepping away from her.

"It was left after you both disappeared. Celestia and I were going to place it in Storage, but now that you are back I feel that you may as well hold onto it. Who knows, it may come in useful." She said, which honestly surprised me more than anything that had happened in the past week or so apparently.

"You do understand you are giving me a nightmare murder bag of bad things, right?" I asked, taking the bag from her magical grasp.

"I do." She replied.

"You also understand that Celestia is going to be beyond angry, right?" I continued.

"I do." She replied again.

"... You understand that-" I began before being cut off by her.

"William, I am giving it to you. If you don't want it, I will simply put it in Storage. It's up to you." She spoke. I sat there in silence for a few moments, contemplating exactly how insane this situation was.

"Why?" I asked her.

"Consider it a reward, and more importantly a show of trust." She said before continuing down the hallway, leaving me unsupervised to stare down at my mysterious new bag of who-knows-what.

"What the fuck is going on?" I asked aloud.


End file.
